Loose Ends
by Klei
Summary: From their base/hotel, the group's main goal was to rescue survivors and save humanity. A fan-made sequel. I couldn't help it; there were so many loose ends in the game, it wasn't even funny. Crow/Seto, maybe other pairings as time goes on.
1. The Beginning

A/N

**A little fanfic sequel to the game. I can't help it; they left WAAAAAAY too many loose ends in the game near the end. Plus, well, I like Crow/Seto and have to make up a convoluted revival. Simple, right? Oh, and the implications of the whole "I'm truly alone now" thing where it seems like everyone including Ren died and he dies alone depressed me. Starts right at the end of the game. Anyway, this probably won't be read because of this section being kind of abandoned, so… Here we go. As I type, there are literally only three stories in the entire place. Just… Three. That's pathetic. It's time to add on to it!**

**Seto: All this over one kiss from a robot who didn't even understand the implications of the action?**

**Crow: As the most prominent males, they would have paired us up anyway. That's the yaoi way.**

**FINALLY someone understands!**

**Seto: Ah, well. The fandom is miniscule anyway. At least we won't be pornstars like the more popular characters.**

**That's what you think. Heh. Heh heh. Ahaha! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Seto: O.O**

**Personal Frame/PF: What about me?**

**Don't worry, PF, I liked you. As we all know, only the characters people like get to live on or come back to life in fanfiction. Hooray!**

**PF: …Warning, I am not entirely sure this person is sane.**

**I'm not sure about Chicken Man, though. He annoyed me, but then I saw the part with the dead girl and my heart melted. We'll see as time goes on. Anyway, because Ren had pretty much zero personality, I'm just going to make her up as I go along. Oh, and forgive OC scientist for being a total exposition fairy (of my theories) in the beginning, please. Okay? XD**

* * *

"What now, Seto?" Ren asked, looking at him curiously.

"We have to find survivors. Know where any might be?" Seto asked, looking around.

"I'm not sure. You're the only living person I remember since the first Glass Cage incident. That's… That's why I was surprised when you, well, when you were able to physically touch me, back when we first met."

"Same here. Everyone else has been dead… Or… Or not human. That wasn't a problem, but…" He frowned, and looked away. "They both ran out of power… And died."

"Robots can't die, Seto."

"These ones did."

Not wanting to push him any further, she murmured, "Thank you. Thank you for saving me. You saved the world. What's left of it, I mean."

He smiled slightly. "Y-yeah… I guess I did."

"Hey! Both of you!" a male voice called. Dressed in a dirty white labcoat, he ran towards them, prompting Seto to leap between him and Ren.

"Back off!" the younger boy ordered, holding up the katana he had found.

"Woah, woah, woah! Put that down, boy!" the man said, putting his hands up in surrender and panting. "I'm so glad to find survivors! Shin has gone mad, we have to stop him before he wipes out what's left of humanity!"

"You're a little late for that," Ren said, getting out from behind Seto.

"You're one of the people who worked for him!" Seto said accusingly.

"I swear, we all had the best of intentions!" he insisted. "One minute we were working on the project, and the next _he _decided he hated us all and screwed up the programming! He created those insane mask-like avatar things that wiped out all of my coworkers! I had to hide, so I found a room full of broken dolls nobody ever went into… Every once in awhile, I'd leave and find some living creatures I could eat. Every day for so long!" he wailed, unkempt beard hanging from his face. "You have to help me defeat him!"

"We already did!" Seto said, pointing to the red tower. "He's gone. Right now, we just have to look for survivors."

"Gone?" the man said, eyes widening. "You… You defeated him?"

"Shin has passed on, yes," Ren said. "Along with Sai, the catalyst."

"Oh my… This… This is wonderful! We have to turn the power back on!"

"The power?" Seto repeated. "We have to search for survivors!"

"Electricity will make the search that much easier! Come on, I know how to fix the device! It'll turn on all of the functional robot dolls, too, because they're charged by it, so if you could collect me their bodies, I could build us a functioning search party immediately!"

"Umm… About that…" Seto murmured, and laughed nervously. "Well, the ones I found on my way up were all trying to kill me, so I… I kind of destroyed them all."

"Oh…" the man said, and frowned. "Are you sure there aren't any left?"

"Yes, I'm- wait, did you say _all _the robot dolls would be reactivated?"

"What is it, Seto?" Ren asked.

"Crow!" he realized. "Can you revive Crow if you turn the power back on?"

"You'll have to show me the robot in question, but I'll see what I can do."

"This way!"

* * *

Seto ran over to the body that no longer functioned in the room full of destroyed dolls. "Crow, it's going to be alright! This man is going to help you, okay?"

"Hmm, odd design choices," the man remarked, staring at the pointed ears. "Ah, well… I could actually bring him back temporarily if I used some batteries from those other robots, but they'd run out of charge soon." He felt around the body.

"Hey, watch where you're touching!" Seto insisted.

"I have to find the opening, that's all! Now go get some batteries from the others. The opening is on the back of the neck for them."

"I got it," Ren said, running over to a mangled bot. "Here they are."

"Alright, just give me a second to find it… Aha! Got it!" the man said triumphantly, pulling up the back of Crow's shirt.

"There's nothing there, how can you tell?" Seto asked.

"Call it a scientist's intuition," he said gleefully, pressing down. "It's hard to tell, though; the crafting was truly masterful. I wouldn't be surprised if the boy himself couldn't tell he was a robot. Now, to open it…" He got up and looked around the room for something.

"What are you looking for?" Seto asked.

"These dolls are opened with a special device to keep the batteries from falling out accidentally. They usually carry it around with them, so there should be one in a pocket somewhere… I'm Toshi, by the way. Don't bother with the formalities; they're the least of our worries now… Got it!" he said, taking a strange device out of the pocket of one of the destroyed robots.

"It looks like a cellphone," Ren said, looking at it.

"It's disguised as such. Now, if I just override its connection to this one, and connect it to this Crow boy…" He fiddled with it for a few minutes before finally holding the shirt back up and pressing a button, opening a flap. "Got a flashlight?"

"Yeah, here," Seto said.

He took it and looked inside. "These are some high quality batteries! I'd hold onto these so we can put them back in after turning the power on."

"Stop talking about him like a machine! He's a person!" Seto said angrily.

"I'm sure he has a very high artificial intelligence. There wouldn't be any other reason to design one this well…"

"Stop it!"

"Alright, alright," the scientist sighed, and handed the battery to Seto. "Regardless of what he is, though, he runs on batteries, and that one there can hold a lot of charge; probably why he worked longer than the rest. It's strange, though. He should still have some charge left… Only extreme physical exertion could have caused this."

"Like flipping around like a monkey?" Seto said quietly.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing."

"Anyway, we'll want to put it back in him afterwards, so don't lose it." He popped in the other battery. "Shin was probably responsible for putting working batteries back in all of these dolls so he could use them in his scheme… This still has enough juice in it to last about an hour, which is just long enough for me to turn the power back on!" He closed it and pressed a button on the device. Slowly, Crow's eyes seemed to light back up.

"CROW!" Seto cried, hugging him. "You're alive!"

"Wh-what? Seto?" Crow said slowly.

"I thought you were dead!" Seto said, squeezing him tighter.

"So did I! What happened?" Crow asked, turning around and seeing Ren. "Is that… Is that the silver-haired girl you told me about?"

"Yeah, her name is Ren! And that's Toshi, the guy who saved you!" Seto said.

Toshi waved. "Come on, we have to turn the power back on!"

"Wow… What happened while I was out?" Crow asked, blinking.

"I'll tell you on the way," Seto laughed.

"Great to meet you, Crow," Ren said, smiling.

"Uh, yeah, great to meet you, too."

"That ought to do it! Crow, mind if I put your old battery back in? It ought to work now," Toshi said.

"Sure, all right," Crow said, nodding. After the brief change, the four found themselves standing inside the red tower.

"Oh, that's right! PF!" Seto said, and started running down the steps.

"PF? Who's that?" Crow asked with a frown, following the boy.

"I don't know any more than you do," the scientist responded with a shrug.

After a few minutes of walking, there was a faint sound of, "Warning, I am in danger of malfunctioning! Please help me!" coming from below a pile of dirt beside the train station.

"Help me dig her up!" Seto said, digging.

"You buried someone alive?" Ren asked, shocked, only to understand when they finally dug up the backpack-like device.

"Seto? It's great to see you again, Seto. It looks like you found the silver haired girl," PF said weakly. "Do you mind brushing off the dirt off me? It is affecting my system."

"Did you tell _everyone _about me?" Ren asked, rolling her eyes.

"Hello," the robot introduced herself upon being brushed off. "I am a Personal Frame."

"PF guided me through the train station! Without her, I'd still be stuck inside it," Seto explained.

"A Personal Frame? She'll be really helpful during the search!" Ren said, picking up PF. "I'll carry her, if that's alright."

"Umm, are you sure?" PF asked, hesitant.

"She won't drop you, PF," Seto said. "Oh, and… This is yours, right?" He took the screw and twisted it back in.

"So _that's _where that came from," Crow said. "So, well, now that we're all together, shouldn't we set up some sort of base? We need somewhere to put all the people we find, if we're going to search for survivors, right?"

"I would advise you," PF began as Ren strapped her on, "to use the hotel."

"We'll have to bury the dead people there, though…" Seto murmured.

"I'll take care of that; I've worked with more dead bodies than I care to count in college. It's the least I can do, considering all you've been through," Toshi sighed.

"No, I have to be there," Seto said. "They're my friends."

"Alright, fine, then. Come on, we could all use a good night's sleep… Or, as is the case for our mechanical friends, a recharge."

"I'm almost insulted by that," Crow said flatly.

"Oh, wait, that's right, I have weapons in my suitcase!" Seto said, opening it up. "We should probably all take one, just in case."

"A crossbow? Where did you get this stuff?" Ren asked, picking it up. "Nobody uses these anymore; this is super retro."

"In case you haven't noticed, we don't have too much choice in the matter," Crow pointed out, picking up a bamboo sword. "I'm just surprised you have all of this stored. You don't strike me as the violent type, Seto."

"Don't I get anything?" the scientist asked, frowning.

"All I have left is this butterfly net…" Seto murmured. "Sorry."

"Fine, I'll take it," Toshi muttered. "Better than bare hands, at least… Maybe."

* * *

"I brought the radio from the red tower, by the way," Ren said, plugging it into the wall. "Now that the power is back on, we should be able to find some people."

"Hello?" Seto spoke into the microphone. "Is there anyone there? Is anyone still alive?"

"Here!" someone said. "Who is this?"

"I'm Seto! Who and where are you? We're looking for survivors!"

"My name is Kikyo, and I have a group of other people here with me. We're in the old shack by the train station. Where are you?"

"The old hotel! Can you bring them there? We'll meet you out front!"

"That close? We'll be right over! But… I'm not sure we can make it through the park. There are a bunch of wild dogs out there."

"We'll escort you through the park, then! How many of you are there?"

"Including me, six."

"Alright, then. Meet us at the front of the park, we'll be right over."

"Thank you!"

"We're going to need more weapons," Crow murmured.

"I suggest that someone stay here to 'hold down the fort,' as the saying goes," PF said.

"I have the worst weapon, so why don't I stay?" the scientist volunteered all too readily. "You kids can go get them, and I'll fix up some of the rooms here! Ah, I'll need PF, though. You have building plans in your databanks, right?"

"Yes. Leave me with the scientist, we will fix up the hotel. Good luck, Seto, Crow, Ren."

"Be careful," Seto said.

"Alright, let's do this!" Crow said with a grin.

* * *

It was a short walk through the park. "There aren't as many dogs as last time," Seto remarked.

"Good times, huh?" Crow mused. "So many pleasant memories."

"You stole my stuff!"

"I know! It was fun!"

"Remind me how you two are friends again?" Ren asked.

"He isn't always this bad," Seto responded.

"That must be them," Ren said, running forward.

"Wait, what? We can't see them from here," Crow said, confused.

"How can you tell, Ren?" Seto asked.

"Ever since those experiments Shin did, I… When I'm close to someone, I can feel where they are," she replied. "Come on, they're this way."

"Hey!" Seto called. "You guys there?"

"Over here!" the voice that seemed to be Kikyo called. "Do you have any medical supplies? Please, one of us got hurt really bad by a falling beam!"

"I have something in my suitcase," Seto said as they approached the group, and took out a first aid kit. "That scientist guy and PF ought to know more about this stuff, so we can get you better care back at the hotel. Crow, Ren, you take the rest of them back. I'll take care of the kid."

"Since when were you boss?" Crow asked curiously, only to continue: "Alright, post-apocalyptic tours here! On your left, you'll see a broken merry-go-round…"

"Oh, shut up," Ren said, whacking him on the head.

"You look funny, mister," a boy told Crow.

"I'm magic, that's why," Crow responded, smirking.

"Really?"

"No, not really. Get back in line."

"Thank you for all your help," Kikyo said again. "It's great that we can finally get together and see if we can fix society. What about the ghosts and dogs, though? Are you sure we'll be fine?"

"Crow and Ren will take good care of you, and I'll make sure this boy gets back safe and sound," Seto said as he lit the bonfire. "Goodbye for now!"

"Goodbye!"

"Are dey weaving ush?" the toddler asked, surprisingly calm as Seto wiped off his bleeding leg.

"For now. We'll catch up to them in a moment, though," he said. "Just let me stop the bleeding first."

"Are you sure dey aren't gonna weave ush fowevuh?"

"Of course not, why would you think that?"

"My mommy and daddy weft me fowevuh."

Seto frowned. "They didn't mean to leave you forever. They were forced to by a… By a really mean man. Don't worry about it, nobody here is going to leave you, okay?"

"You shuwah?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We're going to go back to the hotel, get something warm to eat, and get a good night's sleep. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah!"

"Great to see how good you are with kids," Crow said sarcastically.

"Crow! Shouldn't you be with the others?"

"Kikyo dropped her brooch, so I'm here to get it back," he said, scanning the ground and finally picking up a shiny star-shaped piece of jewelry. "Seems like everyone has an important memento nowadays. Just like humans."

"Don't talk as if you aren't one."

"I'm not, though."

"Sure you are!" Seto said, smiling. "You still have that photograph, don't you?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Since when was that not a memento? Now come on, let's bring this boy back to the hotel, alright?" Seto said, and finished bandaging the wound. "I'll carry him." He lifted the toddler onto his shoulders.

"What are we going to do for dinner?" Crow asked. "I need to eat, too… My battery can't hold a charge if I don't, the stupid thing."

"I have some old food in my suitcase, but… Not too much else. There should be leftovers in the hotel cafeteria."

"That'll be all rotten, you idiot!"

"Well…" Seto murmured, staring up at the birds.

* * *

"Welcome home, you guys," the scientist said. "The smell of corpses is gone, and the sheets are clean… Enough. And- why are you carrying a dead bird?"

"It was hard to get without a crossbow, or another ranged weapon; if only Ren were there, huh?" Crow remarked. "Anyway, where's the stove? This is the dinner to go with everybody's stale leftovers."

"Who gets what room?" Kikyo asked randomly.

"Umm, why don't we start on the top floor? Kids in 300, Kikyo… Kikyo, you can go in 301 with me. Crow, Seto, why don't you take 303? As for the professor, he can get 304."

"We'll eventually run out of space if we find too many people," the scientist said.

"If we do, we'll have to find a place with more space. There is a 90% chance there will be some abandoned houses not too far from here. When we get enough people, we can start moving them into there," PF said.

"Alright, then. Let's go to the cafeteria and eat something, I'm starving," Crow said.

"You eat?" the scientist repeated.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. That's how I was designed," Crow spat, turning away and storming off after Ren and the group of survivors.

"Alright, what do we have?" Crow asked.

"Some crackers and a moldy sandwich in my suitcase," Seto said, frowning.

"I'll switch off my tastebuds and take the sandwich," Crow sighed. "Split the crackers among the kids, and I'll cook the bird."

"What's in the fridge, Ren?" Seto asked.

"Some expired meat and milk, juice, bread, yogurt… A lot of stuff, actually. Help me check the expiration dates; it's hard to get rid of stuff, but we don't want anyone getting sick."

"Warning!" PF said urgently from Ren's back, having since been put back in the silver-haired girl's care. "That is not how you cook a bird, Crow!"

"Oh, what do you kno- ARGH!" the humanoid robot yelped as flame burst from the stove.

"Just give me that, I'll do it," Ren giggled, taking the bird from Crow, who wiped the soot off his face.

"Umm, do you need a napkin?" Seto asked.

"Just… Don't say anything," Crow sighed. "I'm going to go read. There's a library in this hotel, you know."

"Really? That's cool!"

"It's on the second floor, through the door with the fancy doorknob. Call me when dinner's ready," he said, leaving with a hand-wave.

"Aren't you going to stay and help?"

"Are you kidding? I'm not taking care of these brats!" he snorted.

"You're not being very helpful!"

"Well, I guess 'helpful' isn't in my programming," he replied curtly, and left.

* * *

"Sorry dinner isn't exactly great," Seto said, frowning. "It was all we could do."

"It's alright, we're used to it," Kikyo said. "It's been forever since I had meat, and it's just great to have a nice place to sleep for the night."

"We'll have to train the kids how to defend themselves," Crow pointed out. "You sure you don't have any other weapons in that suitcase of yours?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. We can look around the building, though. Anything will do." Seto emptied out his suitcase on the table. "I have flashlights and some first aid left. That's it."

"Looks like we'll be raiding some buildings," Crow said with a frown.

"Hey, guys," Toshi said, getting up. "PF and I have been talking; mind if I take her and go salvage some parts from the lab? I'm sure I could find some useful machines I could fix up, and there's bound to be plenty of things we could use as weapons there, too. Anything is better than this piece of junk," he muttered, picking up his butterfly net.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Seto said. "If you see a guy that looks like a giant chicken, tell him we're at the hotel, if we wants to sell us something."

"A… What?"

"You'll understand if you see him," Seto said, laughing. "It's hard to explain. Oh, and whatever you do…" His face became serious again. "Don't point out that the 'princess' is dead… Okay?"

"Umm, sure, whatever you say."

"Good luck!" Seto called.

"We will be back soon. The odds of a successful mission are 70%," PF said cheerfully.

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't go, then…"

"I meant the odds of finding something," PF corrected. "Not of living."

"Right… Well, later, everybody!" he said, and left.

"Good riddance to him," Crow said, biting into a chip.

"He was the one who fixed you, wasn't he?" Ren asked, appalled. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"I don't need to be reminded every five minutes that I'm not a living thing, alright?" Crow replied, irritated, and got up. "I'm going back to the library."

"Ah, Crow, wait!" Seto called after him, and gave up. "I think you hit a nerve."

"I didn't mean to hurt his feelings…" she said. "I mean, he _isn't _alive, technically, and he does run on electricity, but it doesn't mean he isn't a person! I never said that!"

"I know, but… He only found out recently that he was a robot at all," Seto explained. "He's still probably a little shocked."

"You mean he never knew before?"

"No. He didn't remember anything when I met him."

"How did you meet, anyway?"

"At the theme park. He did all these weird acrobatic tricks and stole my pouch." Seto smiled a little at the memory. "I chased him around for ages, until I finally climbed up onto a poster to reach him. He tried to insult me, and he fell… I was really worried, though. It was weird. Even though I was ticked off at him, I didn't want him to die, so I went down and checked to see if he was alright. I was so relieved when he got up… He told me he would give me my pouch back and apologized, so we sat down a little while and talked… He showed me a picture of his, gave me this ring, and, well… Then… He…" Seto murmured.

"He what?"

Turning slightly red, he replied, "Then he kissed me."

"O-oh," she said, caught a little off-guard. "I mean, there's nothing _wrong _with that, but… Well, he… He stole from you, and then he kissed you, and… And you were _okay _with that? It just seems… I don't know. Forget I said anything," she sighed with a smile, and looked at her dress. "I'm going to see if I can find something worth wearing, okay? This is in shreds."

"I'm going to go talk to Crow," Seto said.

"Good idea. Kikyo," she said, turning to the girl. "Can you put everyone to bed?"

Kikyo nodded. "Alright. I've looked at the room, though, and we need one more bed in there to fit them all. Is it alright if I move one from another room into there?"

"Sure, go ahead. We're all a family now, so we have to act like one, okay? Tomorrow we can eat and search for more survivors. PF can figure out their general location, and I can track them down from there. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Seto said, nodding and going off to the library.

"Crow?" he called softly, entering the room.

"Yeah?" Crow responded, flipping through his book. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't like seeing my best friend hurt, and-"

"You still," Crow said quietly, turning towards him. "You still think I'm your best friend?"

"I told you that, didn't I?"

"You thought I was dying. Of course you would say that."

"It wasn't a lie, if that's what you're thinking," Seto said, sitting down next to him. "You really are my best friend."

"What about that girl there, Ren? Or that ghost who was with you when I died? All of them… They were human, weren't they?"

"That doesn't matter, Crow. Ren is a close friend, but… But you were the first friend I've ever had. Before that, all I had was the old man who took care of me… And PF was more like a parental figure than anything else. I don't know Ren all that well yet, and Kikyo and her group just got here."

"It's just…" Crow sighed. "It feels weird. All my life I thought I had a beating hard, but it was just a device in my chest to maintain a certain body temperature to keep my system from overheating; the same with the way I breath. And now, I'm dependent on another machine to charge me, just so I can go on living through the day."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Seto said. "Humans and robots aren't so different. Our organs are like batteries. Without things like exercise, they wear out and we die."

"But… But you have free will, and all that. I'm just… Just a series of programs."

"But we all are, Crow," Seto replied. "My… My grandpa, or whoever he was in relation to me, had a library, and I once read in a book that we're all just a bunch of chemical reactions and electric impulses. We're a little different physically, but… But we're the same where it counts!"

Crow nodded. "Thank you, Seto. I needed that. You know…" he said softly. "You really are… My best friend."

Suddenly, there was no distance between their lips anymore.

* * *

**A/N**

**Yaaaay! -waves the yaoi flag-**

**Crow: I'm so wangsty!**

**It's not wangst! Personally, I'd be horrified to find out I were a robot. I mean, sure I'd get over it eventually, but there would be confusion, shock, vengefulness, confusion…**

**Seto: You said 'confusion' twice.**

**That's because I'd be really confused, okay? I'd also be pissed off that I didn't get a "turn off one of the five senses" function. I can think of a million times where that would have come in handy…**

**Crow: Alright, let's move on already.**

**Oh, and don't worry, Crow. It gets better.**

**Crow: Oh boy… No woe-is-me-I'm-a-robot subplot, right?**

**Oh, uh, well…**

**Crow: Eh?**

**You'll see when we get there!**

**Note: Apologies for any typos; I don't have a beta. Please point them out in your review so I can fix them. ...You are reviewing, right?**


	2. Farm Animals?

**A/N**

**Welcome back to another chapter of this Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon fanfiction!**

**Ren: You want to know what's sad? In canon, I have less personality than even PF. I mean, Crow, sure. He's a humanoid robot. But I have less personality than… Than a robot BACKPACK!**

**PF: There is a 100% chance that I am offended by that comment.**

**Oh, and I apologize for my crappy little song thing. It was supposed to be a symbolic thing, where Ren is trying to show that she feels things will get better from there on out. Just disregard it, if you wish. It's fairly unimportant.**

* * *

"So… We should probably go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Seto said, turning slightly red and looking away.

"Mmhmm," he said, putting a piece of paper inside the book and closing it. "Not like anyone else is going to come in here." He laughed a little. "We share a room, right? Come on."

"What are you doing, Crow?" Seto asked.

"Storing energy," Crow replied as he plugged a device with batteries in it into the wall. "I want to charge as many batteries as I can, so I always have some energy to run on, just in case."

"Won't you have to switch them?"

"I trust you to put new ones in when one runs out."

"What about after I die?"

Crow smirked. "When that happens," he said, getting into the bed, "I don't want them changed anymore, anyway."

"Don't say that," Seto murmured, and yawned, taking off his jacket and getting into bed. Crow sat down beside him, getting under the blankets. He didn't need them, but he liked the warmth. Removing his hat, he turned to look at the exhausted boy.

"You haven't slept through a whole night in forever, huh?" he asked Seto, who had already fallen asleep. "Hm. I'm completely charged, but… It couldn't hurt to get on a good schedule, right?" he asked nobody in particular, and shut himself down for the night.

* * *

"Hey, Seto, wake up," Crow said.

"Wh-what?"

"Wake up! You looked tired, so I let you sleep in. Here's breakfast," the robot said, holding out a plate with a syrup-covered pancake on it.

"Woah! Where'd you get this?"

"We hit the jackpot earlier!" Crow explained, grinning like a fiend. "There's an entire storage room _full _of preserved food! Sure, some of it has freezer burn, but it'll do, right? I mean, we're talking bread, jam, butter, flour, yeast, all sorts of spices… All the stuff a fancy hotel would put in its food, really."

"That's great!"

"I know, right? You can thank PF for everything; she calculated its location. Great, huh? You sure have some nice connections."

"What about Ren? Is she okay?"

"Oh, the silver-haired girl?" Crow responded. "She's… Fine."

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing. Let's go, alright? We have survivors to find!"

"Let me finish eating first! This is great! Who made it?"

"Ren," Crow responded reluctantly. "PF was the one who instructed her, though! So… Yeah."

* * *

"Good morning, Seto!" Ren chimed, adorning a blue uniform-like shirt and pair of pants. "We found some old hotel uniforms in the closet. There are more if you want to wash your other clothes. The professor is back, and he turned on the water while he was there, so the laundry room is back up and running!"

"Yeah, Crow told me," Seto replied, both he and Crow wearing the uniforms, Crow making a point to wear the hat.

"It's like we're actually in charge of the place now," Crow remarked, pinning the 'Manager' badge onto his shirt.

"Crow," Seto scolded.

"What? You don't like it?"

Ren rolled her eyes. "Come on, PF has calculated that there's a strong chance of survivors not to far from here, 'kay? Let's go!"

"You two go," Crow said.

"What? You're not coming?" Seto asked, disappointed.

"I promised Kikyo I'd teach her and her gang how to defend themselves with the weapons Toshi found. Said pansy is upstaits with PF, busy fiddling with parts he salvaged to try and do… Whatever it is he's doing. I dunno, you'd have to ask him. Later, guys."

"Oh, well… Alright. That makes sense," Seto said slowly, and went after Ren.

Upon leaving the building, she turned towards him. "He's strange."

"Yeah, well, that's Crow for you."

"You're glad that you saved him, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am!" Seto insisted. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Are you glad that you saved me?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you."

"You already said thank you."

"Yeah, I know. I just…" She exhaled. "I'm just… It's so weird, you know? Everyone was dead, and now suddenly, well, there are people again. Suddenly we're making something happen, even though it almost ended just the other day."

"It's amazing, huh?"

"Yes. It really is."

Seto paused. "Do you not like Crow, or something? You just don't seem to talk about him in a positive way."

"It's not that. It's just, he's a robot, Seto. He uses up valuable resources that we could be using on other people, so-"

"Are you suggesting we just turn him off?" Seto cried. "Crow is a person, Ren! We can't kill him! Not again!"

She laughed. "You really do care about him."

"What?"

"I don't think we should hurt Crow. I just wanted to see how you would react." She looked up at the sky. "You're so predictable, really."

"I…"

_"Oh round white moon, oh how beautiful your light is tonight," _she sang.

"What-"

_"How truly precious you can be."_

"Ren, why are you-"

_"I look into your eyes and softly touch your hand; farewell, love, and tomorrow we will meet again."_

He paused. "Ren…"

_"Oh twinkling star above, how beautiful, yet lonesome… As sad and lonesome as I am! I reach out for your hand; we are two and one. Farewell my love…"_

"What was all that about?"

"My mother used to sing that to me. After she died, I added that last part on my own, on a spur of the moment, the moment before we met. When I saw you, it interrupted it, and… I didn't know what came next anymore. Especially not after Shin tried to make me the catalyst for his project." She looked away and continued. _"Farewell, my love, and tomorrow we will meet again… Oh shining sun, oh how glorious you burn above… You bring me hope, you bring me joy! I wish to follow suit, until I realize… That we are both stars, you and I. Good morning, love, tomorrow finally came…"_

"What if humanity really does die out forever?"

"We'll go down fighting," she replied. "Fighting together. That way even if we all die, we won't have any regrets." Ren turned back towards him. "You have to promise me you won't give up, Seto. Even if you know it's hopeless. Remember, we're all fighting with you."

He nodded. "I promise."

* * *

"I sense something," Ren said as they arrived at a long lane of run-down houses. "Over there. It's… Two presences." She ran into the building.

"Ren, be careful!" Seto called after her, and they entered, turning around slowly in case of vengeful spirits.

"Seto, over there!" she said, running over to a crouching woman with an extended stomach. "Miss, are you okay?"

"You… You have to… To save my baby," she gasped, handing Ren a wrinkly child before collapsing. "His name… Ryuuichi…"

With that, she was still.

"She died," Ren said quietly, taking the baby. "Her presence disappeared. She must have given birth to him as we arrived…"

Seto clenched his fist, trying not to cry as he punched the wall. "Damn it!" he screamed.

"Seto…"

"If we had gotten here sooner… She was dying while we sat at a hotel and ate! If we had just gotten here a day earlier, she'd still be alive!"

"Seto, stop. You're scaring Ryuuichi."

"We failed, Ren!"

"Now you calm down and listen up," she said sternly. "There are only a few of us. We can't possibly search day and night. We did all we could, okay? What did you promise me you wouldn't do?"

"I'm not giving up! We just have to work harder! If I hadn't eaten breakfast, we might have-"

_"Seto!" _she snapped, calming once she was certain she had his attention. "We are doing the best we can. I swear, I want to organize full-out search parties as soon as I can, too. There are probably lots of people right now, dying all over the place, alone. But Seto, we're only human! We have to save who we can, and not let the ones we can't hold us back. Alright? If we kick ourselves for their death, more will follow. We have to stay calm."

He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "R-right. We have to bury her, though."

"I'll bury her. You go take Ryuuichi home. Kikyo is good with kids, she can help. We need to get him proper medical attention as soon as possible. Ask PF what to do."

"Alright."

* * *

"Welcome back, little hero," Crow chirped, when the baby caught his eye. "Another kid?"

"His mom died almost the moment we got there, as if she was holding on until she found someone to save her baby," Seto said softly. "We have to take him to Kikyo and PF. They'll know what to do."

"Oh, PF? The former backpack?"

"What do you mean, 'former?' "

"Hey, Personal Frame, come on out!" Crow called.

Slowly, an obviously metallic, though humanoid form emerged, like a robotic doll without skin, familiar lightbulbs for eyes. "Hello, Seto," she said, and though her face had no features besides the lights, Seto could tell she was smiling inside.

"PF! What happened to you?"

"I wanted to walk, and the professor found some parts to let me do just that," she replied. "Now I can be more helpful, right?"

"You've always been helpful, PF!"

"I apologize for my unsightly appearance. The majority of the artificial skin Toshi could find was too damaged to use."

"It doesn't matter!" Seto said, grinning. "Now, umm, can you help me out with this baby, here?"

"Please wait a moment while I find data on this subject…" She paused, making a whirring noise. "I would suggest asking Kikyo in the meantime, while I gather my files. Give him to me, please. I will see to it that he gets to Kikyo safely."

"She's been dying to try out her arms," Crow explained briefly.

"I'm glad you can do the things you want now!" Seto said brightly. "I'm really happy for you!"

"Thank you," PF said. "I only wish I could show the happiness on my face."

"We don't have enough material yet," Crow said.

"Of course, I understand. Cosmetics are not a priority," PF said cheerfully. "I am just glad to be of some more use to you all."

"His name is Ryuuichi, alright?" Seto said, giving him to PF. "But really, PF, you've always been a huge help, and that'll never change!"

"Unless she starts actively trying to sabotage what we're doing."

_"Crow!" _Seto growled.

"What? You said it'd never change, and I was only pointing out that it _could _change. Not to say it will, but-"

"That's enough, Crow," Seto said firmly.

"Ryuuichi. I will divulge this information to Kikyo," PF said, and carried him away.

"So, where's Ren?" Crow asked when they were alone.

"Burying the mother."

"Ah."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Why don't we go have some snacks, Seto? I'm sure she'll find us."

"Umm, alright. So how did training the kids go?"

"Eh, alright, I guess. They got to practice on an actual spirit that was out in the park. They don't hang around the hotel now that there are a lot of people living here, and the ones we do see just aren't all that dangerous. Mostly the stupid ones. Really, I think you scared them all off, Seto." He laughed.

"What about Toshi?"

"Oh, him?" Crow said distastefully. "He's tinkering with more stuff. I hope this time it's important."

"Having working limbs was important to PF! Besides, she can help us out a lot now!"

"Well, sure, and it's great, but I mean more pressing stuff. Toshi only had enough material to let PF move on her own; she doesn't have the agility of a human, let alone the agility of a doll such as myself. I trump you all when it comes to that," Crow snorted. "We still need a way to get rid of what's left of the ghosts, though. You know, a way to get them to move on."

"Is that possible?"

"We gotta try, right?" Crow asked. "Anyway, you know the park? I left my favorite book their that day we met, and I looked for it while we were training there. It was gone, though. Any idea as to where it might be?"

"Oh, that pirate book you stole lines from?" Seto asked.

"Yeah, that one! Wait a minute, you read it?"

"Uh-huh."

"I know it's a book for kid's, but I used to read that all the time after Glass Cage," he sighed. "Can I have it back?"

"Sure, my suitcase is in our room. It should be in there."

* * *

"I haven't had pastries in ages!" Seto said cheerfully, trying not to scarf down the treat in his hand.

"It's nice now, but we're going to have to start rationing stuff out after today," Crow said. "Give a poor person with only a few hundred yen to their name one billion yen, and odds are they'll end up with less than they started with not long after. We don't want to be in that situation."

Ren nodded, biting into her own lunch. "There are factories, but I'm not sure where they are, and PF hasn't been far enough away from here to map out the area far beyond the train station; she was a rental there, from what I understand. She's studying some of the tourist maps now."

"Hellooooooo!" a voice called in.

"Who's that?" Crow asked, running to the door and opening it up. "Wh-what the _hell _are you?"

"Oh, the merchant!" Seto exclaimed, having followed Crow. "Great to see you again! How is the princess doing?"

"She's still in good health, though she refuses to smile," the chicken man said sadly, motioning to the slightly rotted child in the carriage.

"Umm, sir, that baby-" Crow began.

"-is beautiful. I'm sure she'll smile soon," Seto finished for him, squeezing Crow's hand.

"Thank you for your kind words. Would you like to buy anything?"

"If you have food, sure," Crow said bluntly.

"I'm afraid I don't have any food; I threw it away when the princess stopped eating. However, there is a farm up north that I frequent for things; the princess always loved animals. I'm sure you could find something there," he replied.

"A farm? Thank you for the information!" Seto said, taking some yen from his bag and giving it to the man.

"What good is yen when everybody is de- ouch!" Crow grunted as Seto elbowed him.

"Thank you for your patronage! See you soon! Will you be wandering far after this?"

"No, this is our home, for now. We'll tell you if you plan on moving, okay?"

"Goodbyyyyye, then!" the chicken man said, rolling the carriage away, only for Crow to slam the door shut.

"What was that all about?"

"That's the chicken merchant I told Toshi about earlier. He's a very nice person… Umm, thing. Whatever he is. Don't tell him about the princess, though, okay? Just… Don't."

"He'll have to be told eventually."

"When he's ready."

"Alright, whatever."

"Anyway, let's go tell the others about the farm!"

* * *

"How did I get stuck out here with you, again?" Crow asked.

"Ren is still practicing with her crossbow, and you've already had your chance to stay behind."

"I was still working," he mumbled. "So, this farm… Do you think there will be anyone there?"

"I'm not sure. The merchant didn't say anything about that."

"I'm thirsty… If only we had brought some water…" Seto said sadly. "I forgot that we can't run out anymore, so I didn't think to bring any."

"Luckily, I'm not as stupid as you are," Crow mused, handing Seto a bottle.

"Where'd you get the bottle?"

"They're all over the place; people are litterbugs," he responded. "I washed it thoroughly, don't worry."

"Alright, thanks." He took a sip. "Want any?"

"I'm fine. We don't know how far away this farm is, or if we'll meet other people, and your need is more immediate than mine. I only need a little to keep me going. Oh, and, again, _I _drank _before _we left."

Seto looked away. "Alright, so I made a stupid mistake."

They walked in silence for a few more minutes.

"Does this field ever end?" Crow complained out of nowhere. "We've been out here for at least an hour."

"It's probably a couple miles away."

"We might end up spending the night somewhere, then."

"Without telling anyone?"

"They know we can handle ourselves. I mean, you saved Ren from a madman, right? Together, we can take on anything the world throws at us!"

"Look out!"

"Wha-"

Seto stabbed a jellyfish-like creature that had snuck up from behind Crow.

"What the- I thought they only came out at night, or in dark buildings!"

"I thought so, too," Seto said, looking around. "How did that survive out here?"

"Maybe it was already dying when you stabbed it," Crow suggested. "Those jellyfish ones aren't very smart."

"I hope."

"Thanks, by the way. Looks like we both have to pay more attention to what we're doing."

* * *

"There it is!" Seto said, relieved as they finally saw a barn in the distance.

"Finally!" Crow breathed, irritated. "Three hours with nobody to talk to but you finally paid off!"

"Let's go!"

Upon reaching it, they found several emaciated animals. "They're all skin and bone," Crow remarked.

"Poor guys."

"I saw we use them for food."

"The horses, too?"

"Look at them, Seto, they're dead anyway."

"Not if we feed them! They could get us around faster!"

"Why can't we just salvage some cars?"

"Those will take time to fix. Besides, we can't really eat them. There's no meat!" Seto insisted.

"Alright, alright. Look around, see if you can find something to feed the horses. Meanwhile, I am _so _having pork for dinner…"

"We could take the pigs back, to! If we fence off a space for these animals back at the hotel, we could raise them there and get food that way!"

"Can't we just eat one?" Crow whined.

Seto glared at him. "Gather them all up, we'll decide from there."

* * *

"Alright, _leader," _Crow said sarcastically. "We have four starving horse, two stallions and two mares, five pigs, all female and one pregnant, seven chickens, two of them roosters, two cows, one of them a bull, and a male donkey, all of them eating food that we could otherwise feed ourselves."

"Do we have any way to contact Ren while we get them ready for the journey back?"

"Tell you what. _I'll _go back, alone, and go tell them in advance that we're going to bring home an army of animals. They can handle the building. I'll bring you back dinner, I promise."

"You're coming right back?"

"You can't possibly bring them all back on your own. See you in six hours," Crow said, waving.

"So I'll be all alone?"

"Hey, I said I'm coming right back, didn't I?" Crow asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah, but-"

He was interrupted by another kiss.

"Right back, as soon as possible," Crow said again. "I promise. We're best friends, after all, right? It won't be like before. This time you know for a fact we'll see each other again."

Seto nodded again. "Yeah."

* * *

"They've been gone an awfully long time," Ren remarked.

"I hope nothing bad has happened," Kikyo said, frowning.

"They can take care of themselves, I'm sure. It's probably just far away."

"Guess who's back?" Crow called, opening the door right up without bothering to knock.

"Crow!" Ren said, moving towards him. "You're back! But… Where's Seto?"

"He's back with the animals. He insists we keep them," Crow responded, rolling his green, catlike eyes.

"Why did you come back?"

"To tell you what's taking so long; we have to make sure they're ready for the journey back."

"You came all this way for that one message? You left Seto alone?"

"He's only been on his own for a little while, and I'm going right back. I promised to bring him back dinner, so give me a bag, 'kay? Oh, and another bottle of water."

"But you have to charge with sleep, don't you?"

"I can sleep there."

"But Crow," she said, frowning, "if something goes wrong with you, Seto won't be able to bring you back alone, and nobody else can go, because there aren't enough people to take care of all the kids, especially now with Ryuuichi! Toshi is pretty adamant about doing a check-up, just to make sure you're in working orde-"

"Hey!" Crow growled, leaning towards her. "I promised him I'd be right back. Stop treating me like a machine! There are a million different things that can go wrong with you humans, too. Heart attacks, fatal disease, infections, cancer..." He strolled into the dining room and gathered up a bag full of a few different foods. "Got any blankets?"

"There are sleeping bags in the mall. You can take the shortcut there and get some. But Crow, I still think you should see Toshi."

"He just wants to study me, and you know it." Turning back to her one last time before he left, Crow added, "Seto can see the person in me. Why can't any of you?"

She opened her mouth, but closed it in defeat. "I don't mean it that way, Crow, I swear. It's just... Are you sure I shouldn't go?"

"No, I'm going," he replied. "Tell Toshi to screw himself."

"Will do," she responded with a small smile, waving.

A few minutes after he left, she walked into Toshi's room.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Crow told me to tell you to screw yourself," she said casually, leaving the professor baffled and giggling to herself on the way out.

"I don't think he really meant for you to do it," Kikyo said, pulling her long, black hair out of her face.

"Hey, I'm just following his instructions."

* * *

"Crow!" Seto said, relieved. "I was almost worried you wouldn't come back!"

"What? Don't you trust me?" the robot asked, pouting briefly. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Anyway, I brought dinner; we can share." He dropped the bag on the ground. "Re-heated rice and re-heated chunks of some sort of meat. They aren't so hot anymore after that trip, though."

"Thank you," Seto said, smiling at him.

"Heh, you're so easy to please."

"What?"

"You. It's just so easy to make you happy. It's dinner, not a magic wish that'll make everything better."

"Well, you're a nice person. That's all. It makes me happy." He sighed. "If we can't smile, there's really no point in going on, anyway. I promised Ren we'd continue on, so we have to keep finding things to be happy about, you know?"

"Sounds kind of morbid," Crow remarked, voice muffled by a mouthful of rice.

"Maybe."

"Did you find any humans here?"

"Nope, I looked all over the place."

Crow stood up and leaned against the fence the animals were being kept inside of. "It's weird; can't they just jump this? Or knock it down, it's pretty flimsy."

"Maybe they think their owner will come back," Seto suggested.

"Ha, that's stupid."

"It's not stupid. Maybe they're just loyal."

"Just like in the movies, huh?"

"I'm done," Seto proclaimed, swallowing the last of his food.

"Well, then, let's go to bed," Crow said, pulling the backpack he had brought with him out in front of them. "I brought sleeping bags, so- wait, what?"

The both of them stared at what was clearly one very single sleeping bag.

"Umm, on the contrary, it would appear you brought… _A _sleeping bag."

"Yes, well… I, umm, meant to do that! Because, umm, we have to save the rest for, uh, search parties! Don't want them to get all dirty before we go out later, right?"

"Oh, that makes sense!" Seto said, nodding.

_He's kind of gullible, _Crow thought. _But eh, I'm not complaining… Though it is weird he seems to have forgotten that we could just wash them…_

"But… Why couldn't you just wash them?"

"Ah, well," Crow began. "Well, the… The washing machines are full of laundry at the moment, so there would be no room. Yeah."

"Oh. I guess we have to share, then," Seto said, accepting the answer. "Sorry I doubted you; I mean, it was just a little odd. I thought that maybe you had absent-mindedly forgotten or something."

"Of course I didn't absent-mindedly forget!" Crow insisted. "I'm, err, not nearly as dumb as you are!"

"Can you please stop calling me dumb?"

"Fine. I'll just call you a moron."

"No."

"Retard?"

"No."

"Loser?"

"No."

"Moron?"

"No!"

Crow thought for a moment. "What about-"

"No insults, okay?"

"Aww, alright."

Taking shelter in the barn nearby, they both squeezed into the bag.

"Good night, Crow."

"Good night, Seto," he responded, kissing Seto on the cheek.

* * *

**A/N**

**I figured Seto would buy a stupid trick like that. He did it in canon, after all. "You found the key?" "Ah, yeah, I knew it was there all along… Heh."**

**Seto: What's with all the kisses?**

**Shut up! Just for that, next chapter is a… FILLER!**

**Record Player: -plays Twilight zone music- Dun DUN duuuuun!**

**Crow: What the hell? Are fillers really that bad?**

**I dunno. I rather like them. They contribute to character development and can be amusing in their own ways, even though they don't advance the plot at all and often serve simply to satisfy the audience while giving the manga artist a chance to get ahead so they don't end up like Elfin Lied. Elfin Lied should have had fillers. They ended the anime before the manga was done, ruining it. Boo-hoo.**

**Crow: For the love of God, stop ranting already! Nobody cares!**

**Note to the readers; do not watch Elfin Lied unless you have a very high tolerance for naked chicks.**

**Seto: And?**

**And gore. Lots and lots of gore. But the naked chicks are worth it, trust me!**

**Crow: Why is a lesbian writing yaoi, again?**

**Anime guys are sexually attractive because they're like girls without boobs, and a penis where the vagina should rightly be.**

**Crow: Then what's with the guy on guy sex in your work?**

**It's like dildos versus the real thing. I always imagine yaoi guys in anime form. The real thing is… Just not appealing.**

**Crow: …What?**

**No offense, of course. I mean, I'm sure chicks aren't appealing to gay guys, either. I look at men in reality as a straight female looks at women; I find some more hot than others, and understand good looks when I see them and stuff like that. I just wouldn't want to be in a relationship with any of you. Sorry, guys!**

**Crow: I still don't understand your logic.**

**You don't have to, because it doesn't matter! Enjoy your story, folks.**

**Crow: Uhg. Humans.**


	3. Weird Feelings

**A/N**

**We are back! Enjoy the suggestive beginning!**

**Crow: Woohoo!**

**Seto: She's hypnotizing you, Crow! That's BAD!**

**Crow: I'm the designated seme, therefore it rocks.**

**Seto: The hell?**

* * *

As far as Crow could tell, he had been built, at least on the outside, to exactly replicate a regular human male… Besides his ears and eyes, of course. And his pointier than average canines. Okay, so he had KIND OF been built to replicate a regular human male.

However, though there Seto was, stripped down to nothing but his shorts due to the heat as he hand-fed hay to the cows, he found himself unable to compare himself in one last, vital area.

"Hey, Seto?"

"What?"

"What do you have underneath those?" Crow asked, tilting his head to the side and pointing to Seto's pants.

"Uh, underwear?"

"No, underneath that."

Seto's cheeks turned red. "The same as every other boy, I guess."

"Yeah, but what is it boys have there?"

"What? Do you not have it?"

"I don't know if it's the same, so I wanted to check."

"Well…" Seto said slowly, backing away a little. "Go read a book on it, or something."

"What's wrong? Do you have a fever? I can't get sick, if that's what you're worried about."

"Umm, bye!" Seto said quickly, running off.

"Hey, wait up!" Crow called, and sighed. "Che, humans are so weird."

* * *

"Come on, Seto, just let me see real quick!"

"No! Get away!" Seto insisted, back against the wall. _How did I let myself get into this position?_

"I just need to see, for curiosity's sake!" Crow said firmly, pinning him to the wall.

"Let go of me!"

The cat-eyed boy gave Seto a kiss. "Just let me-"

"I said no!"

"What are you so worried about?"

"Because… Umm, it's hard to explain. It's just that, well… Some people… It's… I'm not sure that 'checking' is your real motivation."

"Don't you trust me?" Crow asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess…"

"Then what's the problem?"

Seto was quiet for a moment. "Well, fine, I guess, but… But only a quick look!" he said, turning red.

"Finally," Crow said, putting his hand against the boy's crotch and rubbing it, trying to feel it through the fabric.

"Nn," Seto moaned, ever so slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to feel it without looking at it, because for some reason you humans are all protective about your bodies," Crow responded honestly.

"A-ah… That feels kind of good…"

"What do you mean by that?" Crow asked, confused.

"Mm, I don't know, just please, keep rubbing it, it feels good!"

"That's weird…" Crow mused, suddenly feeling something wet seep through Seto's shorts.

"Nnng!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just… Stop. This is weird," Seto said, slapping Crow's hand away and running off.

"But you just said to keep doing it a second ago!"

"I changed my mind!"

Crow found himself standing there alone, dumbfounded. "I don't understand him. Not at all. And damn it, I _still _don't know what it looks like…"

* * *

"Hello?" Ren called into the radio. "Is anyone there? Are there any survivors?"

"Find anyone?" Toshi asked.

"Not yet. Hello? Hello, anybody? If you can hear me, please do your best to come to the Sunset Hotel, or at least somewhere close by! We have food, shelter, and protection! Please, I repeat, the Sunset Hotel! You know, the one by the theme park! Sunset Hotel! We will be making daily broadcasts to ensure that we get the word out to as many people as possible! Please, contact us! If you have injured, send someone over; we will help them reach here! If you are all injured, please try to make your way to either the shack near the train station, the theme park, or the abandoned houses nearby! We will get to you as soon as possible!"

"Very thorough, Ren," Kikyo said.

"Thanks."

"Hello?" someone called through the radio.

"Hello!" Ren said. "Where are you?"

"I'm part of a surviving group; including me, seven. We have food, but no weapons to get us from the city to the hotel; we want to help you find survivors! I have a lot of able-bodied people here!"

"Hang in there!" Ren said. "We're coming!" She turned to Toshi. "Grab the weapons! Kikyo, PF, Toshi, let's go!"

"I'm busy with my inventions, though!" Toshi excused himself quickly.

"Argh, fine; just Kikyo and PF, then. Come on! Toshi, you man the radio and make sure the kids don't get killed, got it?"

"Fair enough."

"We'll be right over!" Ren said into the radio.

"Many thanks!" the voice said.

* * *

"Think they're ready to go back?"

"No, but we can't stay here forever," Seto responded. "Get some ropes, we'll bring them back that way."

"We have to bring back all the hay, too, then."

"Get the cart. We can tie the animals to it, and have them pull."

"What about us?"

"We'll pull, too!"

"Crazy, but okay."

After filling the cart with what was left of the hay, as well as all the other food they could find, the pair hooked up the cows and horses, with the pigs tied by their necks in the back for lack of a better way to do it, and the chickens in cages that they carried by hand; the both of them tied themselves to the front to help lead the way, knowing most of the animals would probably care less about their destination.

* * *

"How far away is this place?" Kikyo complained.

"Not so much farther," PF replied. "I have a comprehensive map of the area. We will arrive shortly."

"Hey!" someone called, dashing over towards them. "You guys! Oh, thank God!" he said, gasping for breath. "It's great to see more people that survived!"

"Here, we brought extra weapons," Ren said, giving him a slingshot from the bag.

"These are great! Come on, I'll show you the others!"

It wasn't long before they reached an old, dusty house.

"Guys!" the boy called. "The people from Sunset Hotel are here!"

A group of three adults and three teenagers stood up. "That's great," one said, relieved. "Come on, guys, let's get the food!"

"I'm Yuki!" the boy introduced himself. "Thank you for taking the time to get here to us, umm…"

"Ren," the silver-haired girl replied. "These are my friends, Kikyo and Personal Frame; we just call her PF for short, though."

"Friends with… A robot?" Yuki repeated, tilting his head to the side.

"All that aside, we should hurry back. I expect Crow and Seto will have returned by now," PF said. "Come along, everyone, I will lead the way. Ren, you should guard the sides. Kikyo, you guard the back and make sure there aren't any surprise attacks. Two lines behind me, please!"

"So what's it like, back at the hotel?" Yuki asked.

"It's… Interesting, to say the least," Ren replied as she helped put the food they had into bags. "At the moment, we have… Five children, a baby, Kikyo, PF, a scientist named Toshi, me, and now you guys. Not to mention Seto and Crow."

"Who are they?"

"Let's see… Seto is the reason you're all still alive right now, rather than dead because of Shin's attempt to wipe out what's left of humanity; he fought Shin and won." She sighed. "I feel so stupid. It's my fault it almost happened again; I got caught, and he made me the catalyst."

"Close call," Yuki said nervously. "And Crow?"

"Crow is a robot like PF, but he's a doll."

"Ah."

"I'm beginning to wonder if he and Seto have the hots for each other, too," Ren murmured.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing!" she laughed. "Now, I have to guard the sides, if you don't mind!"

* * *

"Hey, guys! Welcome back!" Seto called.

"You got the animals from the farm?" Ren asked.

"Yeah!"

"Animals? Farm? I own the farm up north!" one of the adults said.

"What?" Ren inquired.

"I abandoned it in search of food, thinking it was hopeless to try and keep feeding them, and left the gate open for them to escape through! Why didn't they leave?" the farmer asked, frowning.

"I guess they didn't lose faith in you," Seto laughed. "So can you take care of them now? None of us exactly know how. We were just going to wing it and hope for the best."

"Of course! Now that I have the supplies," the farmer said, overjoyed. "Where are they? My beautiful, prize-winning stallion!" he cried, going to the horse out back.

"Be careful!" Ren called.

"So, you're the Seto person I heard about," Yuki said.

"Yeah, why?"

"You look too wimpy to save the world."

"Hey, leave him alone," Crow said, putting a hand on Seto's shoulder. "Only I get to make fun of him, got it?"

"Crow," Seto scolded.

"And you, the robot," Yuki added. "You're wasting resources!"

"You know," Crow remarked. "You're right. If we get rid of you, though, it'll be the same as getting rid of me, won't it? Actually, I'm more _valuable, _seeing as I," he said with a grin, flipping around like he had when he met Seto, "can search for more survivors far more efficiently than you ever could."

"Both of you, stop it!" Seto ordered firmly. "That's enough! If we're going to live here peacefully, the last thing we need is to have you two arguing about stupid things!"

"You tell him," Yuki snorted, only to get a smack across the face.

"I'm talking to both of you!"

"Yeah! You go, Se- to…" Crow cut himself off and backed away when Seto turned around. "I'll be quiet now."

"What's wrong, Seto? You're usually not like this," Ren said.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just tired," Seto replied, rubbing his eyes.

"You've been tired before."

"You get one good night's sleep, and, well, none of the rest ever fulfill you," Seto responded, yawning. "Besides, I got even less sleep last night than usual. Crow only brought one sleeping bag, and he gets really cold when he shuts down."

"Why didn't you wake me up and tell me? I could have left my internal heater on for the night," Crow pointed out.

"You can do that? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask."

Seto just gave him the angry look of a boy that hadn't slept properly all night and went inside.

"We're best friends," Crow told Yuki, and laughed.

"Umm, okay?"

* * *

"Well, all seems to be going well," Ren said. "Tonight's dinner is crow."

"Hey! I know you don't like me much, but I swear, I don't taste good!" Crow joked. "It's all wires, metal, and synthetic fibers; you'd probably be better off eating grass or something, health-wise."

"Literal crow, Crow," Ren replied, holding up a black bird.

"Who would eat a crow?" Toshi asked, frowning.

"Oh, I'm sorry, let's all go to the mall! I'm sure the shopkeepers there will have plenty of high-quality food they can sell us!" Crow responded sarcastically. "Oh, wait, they're all dead."

"We could eat their bodies," Yuki said.

"That's gross!" Kikyo exclaimed.

"Desperate times…" Crow mused.

"Don't tell me you're agreeing with him!" Kikyo squealed.

"It's a joke! Sheesh," Crow responded, scratching the back of his head. "Why so serious?"

"You shouldn't joke about that kind of thing, you two," Ren said firmly. "Though it is nice you're finally getting along with Yuki… Kind of."

"Don't think this means I don't think he should be shut down!" Yuki said.

"How 'bout I shut _you _down, you little-"

"Why did you have to say anything, Ren?" Seto asked, doing a headdesk.

"Eheh, sorry."

"So how are the animals?" Seto asked the farmer.

"They're doing good, actually," he replied. "The horse's hooves need to be trimmed soon before they get slipperfoot, and they're all skinny, but they'll be fine soon enough."

"They were a pain in the ass to get back here, let me tell you!" Crow said. "Bringing them along took us an extra hour and a half journey-wise."

"Thank you for your troubles," the farmer said.

"It was no problem, really," Seto said.

"Helloooooooo!"

"Don't you know how to knock?" Crow asked the merchant, who pushed the carriage into the room.

"WHOAH! What the HELL is that?" Yuki squeaked.

"That's the merchant," Seto replied, getting up. "What do you have today?"

"Let's see," he said, looking through the objects he had brought. "I have-"

"What the hell? The girl in that carriage is-" Yuki began, only to be elbowed by Seto.

"-beautiful, yes, we know!" Seto said quickly.

"Aww, that's so kind of you! All of Seto's friends are polite!" the merchant said. "Anyway, I have cat toys, dog toys, weapons-"

"We'll take all the weapons you have!" Seto said, handing him some yen. "What else did you bring?"

"I brought food, as well, because you asked for it before," the merchant said, and handed him a few cans of what was probably dry tuna.

"Where did you get this?"

"Oh, around," he replied. "It's safe to eat, though."

"Thank you," Seto said, giving him more yen. "Any medical supplies?"

"I'll see if I can bring some tomorrow."

"Alright, that's all, then. Thank you!"

"Goodbyyyyye!"

"That guy was… Really weird," Yuki said. "Why would you buy stuff from him?"

"He's helped me out of a lot of tight spots; I trust him," Seto replied. "Ren, can you put this in the fridge?"

"Alright," she replied, taking it away.

"Kikyo, Crow, let's take the weapons to the attic."

"Yeah," Kikyo said, nodding.

"What about me? Can I help with something?" Yuki asked, standing up.

"You can get the laundry out of the dryer and turn the hot water on. We could all use showers," Crow responded, sniffing the air and wrinkling his nose.

The others sniffed as well, and simultaneous gags rang through the hall. "Let's hurry and get this stuff put away," Seto agreed, turning slightly green. "Sheesh, how'd we let it get this bad without realizing it?"

"You don't think about these things when everyone around you is dead, perhaps?" Crow theorized.

* * *

"So…" Seto began, staring at their room's shower.

"What?"

"Who goes first?"

"There's only so much hot water, and everyone is going to be taking a shower at once. It'd be best if we went together."

"No way!" Seto said, shaking his head violently.

"What's wrong?"

"Because… Because… It's weird! Especially after that thing at the farm…"

"But you told me you liked that!"

"I don't even know what happened!"

"So we just won't do it again!" Crow replied. "Come on, let's go!"

Seto groaned and followed Crow into the shower, hesitantly stripping down to his underwear.

"The hell is up with you humans?" Crow asked, already tossing his clothes to the side and turning the water on. He tilted his head to the side as Seto tried to look away. "You all have this whole nudity complex. I mean, what makes any part of your body different from the rest that people see every day?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Seto replied, turning red. "Just… Don't look, okay?"

"Fine, fine," Crow replied, rolling his eyes. "We'll just shower back to back."

"Are you looking away?"

"If you turned around, you'd see that," Crow responded, rolling his eyes and getting under the faucet.

Eyes closed, Seto pulled the last of his clothing off and felt around, trying to find the shower. "Umm, how close am I?"

"How would I know? I'm not supposed to look."

"Right…" He groped around, finally feeling water. "Okay, I… AAH!" he cried, slipping, only to grab onto something that felt like an arm.

"You idiot; you okay?"

"Don't look, Crow!"

"I'm not! That's why I'm asking!" he hissed. "You're not bleeding or anything, right?"

"No, I'm fine," Seto replied, standing up straight and finally opening his eyes when he was facing away from Crow. "Umm, where's the soap?"

"Here," Crow said, handing it to Seto over his shoulder.

"Thanks. Can you pass me a washcloth?"

"Where are they?"

"I'm pretty sure they were on your side."

"Oh, for the love of-" Crow growled. "This is ridiculous! Why can't we just face each other?"

"Because!" was Seto's only response.

"The hell with this, the water is getting cold, and we haven't even been able to start washing!" Crow said, turning around and grabbing the washcloths from the sink. "Here, take one," he told Seto. "Hm, so they are the same, after all…"

"Stop _looking _there!" Seto snapped, slapping Crow across the face and turning around.

"What? Is it really such a big deal?"

"Yes, it is a big de- ah, aah!" he whined after Crow grabbed at him from behind. "What the hell?"

"You liked it last time," Crow replied, moving his hand around. "I figured it ought to help."

"That's… Mmm… You told me we wouldn't... Aah..."

"I wonder…" Crow thought out loud, and turned Seto around to face him.

"What are you do- AAH!"

"Hah, that really _is_ nice," Crow said, panting as he pressed himself against Seto, pinning the boy against the shower wall.

"Stop! Ah, no, don't stop!" the brunette said, no longer resisting. "This is… Mmm…"

There was a knock on the door. "Guys!" someone called. "Is something wrong?"

Crow forced himself away. "Nothing, why?"

"It sounded like Seto was in pain!"

"He slipped," Crow replied. "We'll be right out."

"Wh-what is it you're doing?" Seto asked.

"Hell if I know. I'm going to look it up in the library. There's got to be something on it."

"Umm, right."

* * *

"Crow?" Toshi said, surprised when he entered the library, his face by then cleanly shaved. "What are you doing here?"

"What do people normally come to the library to do, genius?"

"One would think all the information necessary to you would be on your databa-"

"Would you stop that?" Crow insisted. "I get it. I'm not a biological organism, or whatever fancy term you want to use. I'm not like PF, though; I don't know anything any other boy my age wouldn't know!"

"Such a waste; you could have been perfect," Toshi sighed. Seeing the pissed off look on Crow's face, he quickly added, "No offense! It just seems odd. Why wouldn't your creator give you that knowledge?"

"How should I know? Now shut up and help me or go away."

"What are you looking for?"

"Well…" Crow said slowly, looking away. "It's kind of weird."

"How weird can it possibly be?"  
"Really, really weird."

"I'm a professional. You can tell me anything!"

* * *

"Ren?" Crow asked.

"Yeah?"

"What's 'sex ed?' "

Shocked, she jumped back and covered the ears of a nearby child. "Wh-what makes you ask?"

"I asked the professor about… Uh, something a little strange, and then he screamed, 'I majored in technology, not sex ed!' and ran away like a frightened little girl."

"One of the adults is a doctor, ask him!" Ren replied, turning red. "And not in front of the kids!"

* * *

"Hey, you're that doctor, right?" Crow inquired.

"Yes, why?" he replied.

"I need to talk to you, and Ren told me it can't be in front of the kids."

"I'm sorry, you'd be better off talking to Toshi; I don't know much about robotics, only humans," he replied, shaking his head.

"I talked to Toshi, and he screamed and ran away like a little girl. Then I asked Ren if she knew, and she blushed and told me to talk to you. So, here I am."

"Well," the doctor sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Come into my room, we can talk there."

* * *

"Okay, let me get this straight," he said. "You were curious as to whether or not you were an exact replica of a human male, so you started grabbing at Seto's 'crotch,' as the slang goes, in order to find out. He proceeded to freak out, only to take pleasure in this action and ask you to keep going, until finally you felt something wet and he lost interest."

"Yep."

"Then in the shower, you touched him there again because he was aggravating you, and you decided to see if it really felt that good and started to, err, rub against him?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And here you are now?"

"That's how it is."

"Well, alright."

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," the doctor replied, "though I question the motivation a man would have to create a robot who can experience sexual pleasure…"

"What about it? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, just… Did he ever touch you anywhere?"

"Who?"

"The man who made you."

"I dunno, I can't remember."

"And you probably don't want to…" the doctor mumbled.

"What?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing."

* * *

**A/N**

**I couldn't resist adding that bit about the doctor questioning the motives of Crow's creator. I mean, wouldn't you?**

**Crow: That really is creepy…**

**Ren: Good thing it isn't canon, right?**

**Seto: Whether or not Crow can feel sexual pleasure in canon is never actually specified; the game is rated T.**

**Crow: Oh God! Now I'll never know!**

**Ren: Let's just assume for the sake of everyone's sanity that it isn't canon, 'kay? I mean, it isn't like reproductive organs were even animated in; it'd be a waste since nobody could see it anyway.**

**Seto: If we're going about it that way, that means we'll all be forced to go through the game over and over and over again.**

**PF: Then that means…**

**Crow: We have to die over and over and over again? FUCK!**

**Ren: You also get to kiss Seto over and over and over again.**

**Crow: About the only thing worth doing that happens to me! I fall off a fucking sign and die later on!**

**Spoilerrific!**

**Seto: Technically, if you don't want spoilers, you shouldn't read fanfiction.**

**True, true. I just felt I had to say something to lighten the mood, now that we know that Crow has, in this fanfiction, probably been molested by the person who put him together.**

**Crow: This fanfiction sucks! I want out!**

**Too bad. I locked the cell and threw away the key!**

**Seto: Cell? What are you- Shit.**

**All: -glance around, only to find out they're in a prison cell-**

**Just think about it, at least you aren't popular anime characters; if you were, there would be a million different stories about you getting it on already.**

**Crow: That… Wouldn't be all that bad, actually.**

**Ren: Shut up and help me find a way out of here!**


	4. Mysterious Foe

**A/N**

**I feel so honored! I mean, if I can write fast enough, this'll be one of the first flat-out Crow/Seto lemons in the Fragile Dreams section! I won't rush it, though. It'll be a few chapters from now.**

**Crow: Damn it!**

**Seto: I know, why do you feel the need to add such a thi-**

**Crow: A few chapters is too long to wait!**  
**Seto: O.O**

**Don't feel bad, Seto. If not me, it'll be someone else later on. Oh, and I apologize for the minor crack involving where babies come from in here. Just disregard it if you wish. It isn't important to the plot besides ensuring that Crow and Seto now know what the naughty-naughty is. XD For, you know, future reference. Yeah. Eheh.**

**Seto: Aren't I a little young to-**

**All bow down before the mighty plot holes!**

**Seto: What the he-**

**-shoves characters back into a prison cell to prevent further interruptions- Besides, maybe I'll do a time-skip, maybe not. It all depends. Not even I'm sure where this story is going.**

* * *

"-and that's where babies come from!"

Crow was silent for a moment. "Three words for you, doctor."

"Yes?"

"What the hell?"

"Let's not swear, shall we?"

"Fuck you."

"You sure you want to say that, now that you know what it means?"

"Aww, gross!"

"Now do you understand why the genitals are forbidden?"

"Yes, yes, just shut up and let me leave!" Crow said, running out the door. "Ren!"

"Yes?"

"Tell me it's not true!"

"What?"

"That all you humans, at one point or another… All of you came out of… Of…"

"I'm sure I don't want to know what this is about."

"But, babies… They come from…"

"Whatever the doctor told you, just go with that."

"But that's disgusting!"

"Somehow, I figured you'd have a stronger stomach than that. Isn't it made out of metal or something?"

"Synthetic fibers!"

"Oh, right. Anyway, bye!" Ren chirped, leaving.

Seto ran up to him, eyes wide and curious.

"Hey, Crow, is something wrong?"

"I found out what I needed to know," Crow said, twitching.

"Oh, then what is i-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Crow squeaked, backing away from Seto's hand before it reached his shoulder. "You all came out of… Why didn't you _tell_ me you all came out of… Of…"

"Of what?"

"ARGH!"

"Of a what?"

"OF A WOMAN'S VAGINA, YOU MORON!"

"Oh," Seto responded. "Hey, wait, what? Grandpa always told me babies came from the stork! That's disgusting!"

"It seems I'll be giving both of you 'the talk,' " the doctor said from behind them, sighing. "I never thought I'd see the day where I taught the world's savior and a cat-elf-robot-doll thing about sex."

"Who're you calling a cat-elf-robot-doll thing? At least I didn't come from such a gross place!"

"You were made by a person who came from that place."

Crow covered his ears. "LALALALALA!"

"Oh boy," the doctor groaned, ushering them back into his room. "This is going to be a long chat."

"So I didn't get dropped off by a bird? My whole life is a lie!" Seto whined.

* * *

Seto yawned and rubbed his eyes to greet the dawn of a new day. "Crow?" he addressed, shaking the robot.

"Hmm… Yeah?" was the response as Crow's eyes slowly opened and faded back into their normal, wakeful state.

"It's morning."

"Oh, right, morning!" Just like that, Crow was already out of bed and getting dressed.

"How do you get up so fast?"

"Robot."

"Oh… Right." Seto tilted his head to the side upon Crow's calm use of the word; he seemed to be swinging back and forth between hesitant acceptance and outright loathing of the fact.

"Ren's a morning person; she's probably up and announcing our location to the world again," Crow said without even a hint of a yawn.

Seto forced himself to his feet. "Where are we searching this time?"

"I don't know, let's ask. PF should have the best locations calculated by now."

* * *

PF whirred. "I think… We should split into groups of two and cover the city."

"Damn," Crow said.

"What's wrong with the city, Crow?" Seto asked.

"What's wrong with the city? Oh, nothing's wrong, unless you're a sane person who gets annoyed by 'here I cooooome,' " he said, imitating the running pants ghosts.

"Are there a lot of those there?" Seto asked, understanding why Crow would be agitated.

"A lot? I swear, they're everywhere," Crow mumbled.

"Guys, I think you're overreacting," Ren said.

"They run at you screaming that horrible, childish line," Crow said dramatically. "Then, after you've hit them, they run away and regenerate themselves! Not so bad if it's just one, but get three or, God forbid, more, and it's hell trying to kill them all."

"They're ghosts," PF said, "so technically you can't-"

"Again. Hell trying to kill them all AGAIN. Are you happy now?"

"Someone's irritable this morning," Seto said, laughing.

"Just the thought of those ghost pants pisses me off."

"This place used to be infested with them before," Seto said, looking around. "I'm surprised they haven't come back."

"It wasn't like you got rid of them all too long ago," Ren replied. "Now that we're all here, they'll probably stay away. They don't seem to bother large groups of humans; didn't you notice that on the way back from the park, it was mostly dogs attacking us, Kikyo?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. Still pretty scary, though," Kikyo replied.

"Meow!" a cat called, running up to Ren.

"Eh?" Yuki exclaimed.

"Ren has a special connection with cats," Seto said. "They led me to her location so I could save her."

"It's because of Shin's experiments," Ren said. "I can feel the emotions and presence of animals as well as people, especially cats, even though with people I can only detect their presence." She put her hand on the animal's head. "Someone is coming."

There was a knock on the door.

"More survivors?" Seto said curiously, running to the door, Crow hot on his heels. Upon opening it, he found a very different sight.

"The… Merchant?" Crow said slowly. "Don't you usually greet us with a 'hellooooooo?' "

"This is what you were all trying to tell me before, wasn't it?" the chicken man said solemnly, pushing the carriage inside.

"What? What were we trying to tell you?"

"The princess will never smile again, will she?"

Seto's eyes widened. "But… How…"

He looked down at the carriage. "When I turned on this morning, she…"

The pair needed no further explanation.

The "princess's" lips had rotted away completely, leaving a clear view of the teeth underneath. However, it was painfully obvious that she wasn't smiling.

"I see…" Crow said slowly.

"How long have you known?" the merchant asked, looking at them sadly.

"Since I saw you trying to cheer her up in that room," Seto responded, looking away.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think… I didn't want to hurt you."

The merchant slowly pulled off the chicken head, revealing the mechanical face beneath. "I was built to take care of the princess. How could I have let this happen?"

"It's not your fault!" Seto said. "Glass Cage killed almost all of humanity."

"Then I should have stopped Glass Cage!" the robot said, furious at himself.

"Nobody knew what would have really happened. You couldn't have done anything!" Seto insisted.

"Perhaps you're right…" the robot said slowly.

"We can bury the princess soon… Why don't you come in and sit with us for a little bit?"

"I could not have protected the princess," the robot continued, as if he hadn't heard Seto. "As such, I have failed my primary function. There's no more need for me to continue on."

"What?" Seto and Crow both gasped in unison.

"That's not what I meant at all!" Seto said quickly.

"What you meant, what you didn't mean… It doesn't matter. I can't allow myself to use up any more power. Not when I have no purpose left."

It was Crow who spoke next. "No! You do still have a purpose! You can help us! Help us fix what Shin has done!"

"I'm sorry," the robot said. "But…"

"But what?" Seto asked.

"My programming won't allow it."

There was a brief period of silence.

"I will bury the princess, away from here, back home, where she belongs. After that, I will shut down forever. I am sorry I can be of no further use to you. You may take all that I have brought you, free of charge." He handed Seto a bag of food and a few weapons. "Goodbye, to all of you."

"But-" Seto began as the merchant rolled the carriage away, only for Seto to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"I've kept you waiting so long, princess," he murmured as he walked into the distance.

"You can't keep him from it. He said so himself; it's in his programming," Crow said quietly.

"No," Seto replied, shaking his head, tears slowly falling from his eyes to the ground. "I think… He himself just couldn't go on without her."

Crow breathed out slowly. "You're still on that whole thing, huh? You think we can just disobey our programming?"

"Yeah, Crow… I do," Seto replied.

The doll smiled slightly. "Either way," he said, shutting the door. "In the end, I think it's for the best. He won't ever be happy in this world. Whatever is in store for him… At least he can finally be at peace."

"I hope so," Seto responded, voice quivering before he finally wrapped his arms around Crow's waist and sobbed into the taller boy's chest.

"Wh-what is it, Seto?"

"Why?" he cried. "Why does everybody have to die? They're all dying, Crow! So many people, as we speak, are all dying! Cold, afraid, and alone! It's not right!"

He was tempted to say what was on his mind. _The world isn't right, _Crow thought, putting his arms around Seto. But, somehow, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Instead, he found himself holding Seto tight. "It'll all work out in the end… I promise."

* * *

"Alright, come on, Seto," Crow said quietly as they walked through the streets of the city, having already split up into groups. To the East, Ren and Kikyo. To the West, Yuki and PF. The rest of the adults, untrained in the art of combat as of then, had stayed behind to keep the children under strict watch; they had attempted to go and slay ghosts themselves one too many times, according to Ren.

"Why are we whispering? If anyone is here, we want them to hear us!" Seto said. "Hello? Hello, is anyone there?"

The sound of wailing met his ears.

"Come on!" Seto said quickly, and both boys ran into the building the cries had come from.

"Wait up, Se-"

The door slammed shut behind them.

"Damn!" Crow said, eyes narrowing as he kicked the door, trying to knock it down. "It's a trap!"

A ghost, facing the wall, continued to wail… But Seto knew their kind all too well. He quickly dispatched the vengeful spirit.

"Not bad," Crow complimented.

"Thanks."

"You really are pretty good at this, huh? Besides the 'getting tricked in the first place' part. Come on, we won't be getting out through this door."

"I thought you had superhuman strength," Seto taunted playfully.

"So did I," Crow responded, frowning. "That door isn't coming down. I wouldn't put it past those damn spirits to have blocked the other side of the door with something."

"Try pulling, then!"

"I would, but…" he responded, turning his head back towards a group of hands sticking out towards them. "I'd rather not risk it."

"We could take them out," Seto suggested.

"Too many, too close together. One would grab while the others attacked."

The building rumbled.

"Did you hear that?" Seto asked.

"Hear it? I _felt _it."

"It's coming from the basement. Let's check it out."

"As much as I hate the concept of stealth, let's go slowly."

"Good idea."

Seto shined his flashlight around, eyes widening when he saw red letters on one wall.

"What is it?" Crow asked, stopping when he saw the same thing.

Very clearly, the word, _"Run," _was printed.

"Run? From what?" Crow inquired to himself quietly.

The building rumbled again, and it wasn't long until they found something more terrifying than the writing.

The corpse of the man that wrote it.

Laying mutilated on the floor, his eyes were gored out and his chest and abdomen torn apart. All his limbs were missing, his throat ripped to shreds, and his spine quite literally halfway across the room. Beside him was a gaping hole in the wall.

"Seto," Crow said seriously. "We have to either figure out what did this and stop it, or get the hell out."

"We can't just leave it here. It might come to the hotel."

Crow nodded. "So we're taking it out, then?" He grinned. "That's what I wanted to hear."

"Let's be careful."

"You really don't need to tell me twice," Crow responded grimly, carefully avoiding the corpse. "Poor guy. He's been dead for awhile." He was tempted to make a remark about how it looked painful, but decided that was pointing out the obvious.

The house rumbled again.

"This way," Seto said, shakily reaching his hand towards the doorknob. "It's down there. I should have brought a second flashlight for you…"

"I can see in the dark," Crow replied. "My eyes were modeled after a cat's; they look like this for a reason. I'll be fine."

"Oh, well… In that case, let's go."

"On the count of three, open the door," Crow said, readying his weapon.

"One," Seto said. "Two…"

"Three!" they said in unison, ripping the door open.

There was nothing there.

"What gives?" Crow asked, scratching his head.

"Ssh! It might be hiding."

Crow nodded, and they both made their way down the creaky steps, breathing slowly and quietly. Seto shined his light around, trying to get a glimpse of something… Anything. Crow simply looked around the room and shook his head.

"There's nothing here… That's weird. What do you think was shaking the-"

A large, malformed arm shot out of the wall.

"Look out!" Crow said, shoving Seto out of the way as it launched itself towards him, and hit it with his sword.

_"What's the matter, Crow?" _it hissed.

"How does it know you're name?" Seto asked.

"Hell if I know!" he responded. "Help me kill this thing before it kills us!"

Seto nodded and stabbed at the hand. Suddenly, the creature seemed to rip the rest of its body out of the wall. A large mass of what looked like flash hung from the center piece, with six arms with hands at the ends holding it up.

"It looks like it's… Rotting," Seto said, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the zombie-esque creature in front of him.

"Yeah," Crow agreed.

_"What are you doing, Crow? Kill the boy now!"_

"What the hell would I want to do that for?" Crow asked, leaping up and plunging the blade into the center mass while Seto defensively slashed at the arms, which seemed to only be after him.

_"You traitor!" _it roared, finally bringing an arm up to knock Crow off and into the wall.

"What is it talking about?" Seto called.

"I already said I don't know!" Crow replied, bringing the blade up to defend itself.

Seto found himself reaching something hard when he plunged his blade into the creature's flesh. "What the…" Sparks flew. "Crow… I think this is…"

"What?" he asked, only to be knocked into the wall again.

"It's mechanical!" Seto said, eyes widening as the flesh slowly fell off the metal, landing on the floor. _It covered itself with the flesh of its victims, _he realized, horrified.

_"If you repent for your sins now, Crow, and kill the boy, I won't have to dismantle you," _it growled, pointing its sharp, metal fingers at the both of them.

"You're the only one who needs to repent!" Crow replied angrily, holding up the weapon he was holding. "That red light on its head, Seto, we have to stab that!"

"How do you know?"

"I don't know how I know, just do it! I'll try to distract it!"

Seto nodded and climbed up a storage shelf as Crow sliced at any hands that made their way towards him. "Don't tip over, don't tip over," he said quietly, biting his lip before he finally reached the top and leapt onto the center mass, stabbing his sword into the red, brain-like piece.

_"You will pay for this, Crow! You will…" _it said, trailing off and falling to the floor, the light turning off.

"It's shut down," Crow said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That was awful."

"Crow… What was it talking about?" Seto asked.

"I've said a million times already, I don't know! I really wish I did, but I don't."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I know one thing," Crow said, examining the robot. "Whether or not we want to know, we'll probably find out sooner or later."

"So… What do we do now?"

"Take this thing back to Toshi for spare parts, of course!" Crow responded.

"What the- Is that right?"

"This thing seemed perfectly content to kill innocent people."

"What if it was just in its programming?"

"Now, now, Seto," Crow said, chuckling. "You can't have it both ways. Just an hour or so ago you said it was perfectly plausible to just go against your programming."

"Yeah, but he might have never had anyone to show him right from wrong."

Crow frowned. "Whatever the case, we could use more working parts, and we can't risk someone fixing this thing by leaving it alone here."

"It smells like dead bodies."

"It was covered in them," Crow replied, wrinkling his nose. "I could just turn off my sense of smell, but… It's only fair that we both suffer through it, right?" He laughed and started to twist off one of the arms. "Come on, help me carry this back; having it drag along the ground is irritating."

"Isn't the exit blocked off?"

"There should be a back door or something, and if there isn't, well, we can just stab through the wall with this thing!"

* * *

"Eww, gross!" Kikyo squealed as Crow and Seto dragged the arm to the front of the hotel. "It's covered in blood!"

"It was covered in decomposing bodies not to long ago," Crow replied, seeing that the others had gotten back before they did. "Find anyone else?"

"A few kids, some adults, and a nursery full of dead and dying babies at the hospital," Ren said sadly. "We could only save two of the babies; the rest had died of Glass Cage, starved to death, or died not too long after we brought them here. The poor doctor... He assumed they had all died already. When he found out a couple were still alive, he looked really regretful that he didn't do something."

"That's awful…" Seto said quietly, almost glad they had only seen that one dead person, rather than a whole nursery full of them. Part of him felt awful, but the other part knew they had to move on if they were to keep on going. "Where's Toshi?"

"Upstairs. I'll get him," Kikyo said, clearly wanting to be away from the bloody robotic arm.

After a few minutes, Toshi arrived. "Alright, alright, I'm he- Ooh, what's this?"

"We had to fight a giant robot thing!" Crow boasted. "It was covered in rotting flesh, but we disposed of it! It was easy!"

"Well, sure, you say that now," Seto murmured. "Anyway, there's more of it. Could you help us bring it back? That is, if you can use these parts."

"After a little cleaning up, anything is possible! Let's go!"

"I'll go with him, Seto; he'll need me to help lift those things up. Plus…" he said, trailing off. "I want to ask him if he knows anything about that thing… And about what it said."

"I understand," Seto said. "Why can't I go, too, though?"

"You could use a break after that," Crow replied, ruffling his hair. "Come on, you go and rest up. You look like you just got attacked by a giant robotic monstrosity."

They both laughed, and Seto turned around, nodding. "Hurry back!"

"We will, don't worry," Crow responded, waving.

* * *

"Hey, Toshi?"

"Yeah?" Toshi replied as he eagerly tore apart the giant robot before them for parts.

"While we were fighting it, it said some weird stuff."

"It's probably defective."

"No, I mean, it said complete and concrete sentences, but the things it said themselves are weird."

"What was it, exactly?"

"It kept asking me why I wasn't killing Seto, and called me a traitor when I stabbed it."

"It has a sensor that allows it to detect other non-biological beings; it probably just assumed all robots were like it."

"It knew my name."

Toshi froze. "That is… Interesting. Are you sure it wasn't just because of the crow pin on your shirt?"

"It… Might be, but… I don't know. What if it really just knew my name?"

"Your name is…" he began, trying to think of some different possibilities as to why it knew. "Ingrained in your memory banks," Toshi reasoned. "It has a built-in wireless connection to the internet, which, as far as I know, all modern dolls are connected to. If I run an update on your firewall system, it should prevent other bots from being able to access your memory like that."

"Oh, so that's all?" Crow said, relief evident in his voice. "Thanks, Toshi."

"No problem. Now, let's get the rest of this baby back to the hotel! I could do a lot with these parts! Once I fix the hotel's computers, I'll see if I can do some updates; the program won't be available online, because the internet is down universally, but it won't be a problem. I can just do it manually."

"Really?"

"It took a lot of schooling to get on the Glass Cage team. I can safely say I know how to build, program, dismantle, and upgrade most things with wires."

"Mm."

"Thanks for finding these parts, they'll be a huge help."

"And Toshi?" Crow said slowly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm… Sorry. I know I'm kind of a jerk to you."

"It's no problem, really. I should probably stop treating you like a standard machine, too," Toshi said hesitantly. "I'm sorry, as well. It's in my training." He sighed. "I'm not as young as I may look. Back when I graduated, artificial intelligence to the same degree as animals, let alone humans, was still just a concept. We could create robots that would evaluate the situations they were in and make basic decisions, such as to step over objects in there way if there was no other way around… But they couldn't make informed decisions regarding other things, such as the emotions of living things, or even other robots. They wouldn't have been able to live independently, because they required orders for them to know what to do with themselves. But technology changes and improves quickly, or at least it used to before Glass Cage… It wasn't long until we could create exact replicas of animals using real or artificial skin and fur that would behave just like their natural counterparts. I suppose my treatment of you was a result of the world I had grown up in, as well as the extensive practice I received in not applying human emotions to robots who were, at the time, just mindless drones that did what we told them."

"I see."

"That's not all," Toshi said. "The dolls… Truthfully, your very origins were a mistake."

Crow's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"

"Don't be offended; a lot of important technological advances were mistakes. Turning lead into gold, for example, even though in the end it turned out to cost more to do than the resulting gold was worth," Toshi said, and continued his explanation. "The very first dolls were programmed to have artificial intelligence beyond compare; we had to give them such so they would preserve themselves at all costs unless a human on their side got into danger, in which case they were to go in and do whatever it took to save them. Like most robots, they were to be used in the military once the design was perfected."

"Go on."

"The prototypes were programmed to obey the orders of one particular human; a 'master,' so to speak. Everything was done perfectly; thousands of people had programmed them, and even more looked over the programming to make sure it was perfect; one typo could screw it all up. I was one of those people," Toshi said. "We were so confident that it would work the way we thought it would. The tests we put them through were only for statistical reasons."

"What tests?"

Toshi frowned. "The first one? We had to prove to the military that they would be completely obedient, no matter what the order. We put their masters, the people who had been put in charge of them, in a fake situation that ended in them hanging off a cliff. They were suspended by cords, but the robots didn't know that. We did everything in our power to make them truly believe it was a training exercise gone terribly wrong. So, each of them had to watch the person who had taken care of them since their inception dangling for their lives, ordering them to leave them because the cliff would break with both their weight."

"So what happened?"

"They obeyed."

"So what's the-"

"Except one."

Interested, Crow pressed Toshi to divulge more. "And?"

"We hadn't anticipated it, but that one… It, and I say that because they honestly didn't have genders at the time, actually grabbed a rope from nearby and threw it out to him, even after being told to leave. They had no voices back then, but we could tell it wanted him to grab on. So, he made as if he had tried, only for the rope to slip. At that point, we expected the robot to give up, but… But instead, it ran up the cliff and pulled him up itself."

"What happened next?"

"It was, naturally, all over the news. A robot with compassion… We couldn't understand it at first. It was exactly the same as the rest in every way we could see. There was a huge investigation, and it was ages until we finally figured, or at least theorized, out what had happened."

"What?"

"The rest of them had all treated the robots they had been in charge of as just that. But the person whose robot had saved him, even if he was never in any danger in the first place, had been treated like a person by the family he had lived with. Despite his lack of a voice, or skin, or hair, he would let it play with his children, and treated it like any other person. The rest had been taught to believe that their sole function was to obey orders, and that it was all they were capable of. After that, we repeated the process, doing many tests that most people would find inhumane were they to be done on people. We taught them to think of themselves as people in all cases, but we did all sorts of things; we had people beat them, we had people who were to treat them as children or lovers, we had people who would treat them like servants… Like twins that don't act the same, the experiences of the first doll had changed it. While we couldn't get any more funding from the military for that particular set of robots, it was a scientific breakthrough. Because we personified them, we named them 'Dolls,' after the toys given to small children, who often treat them as equals. After that, we improved upon them until we finally got to where they are now; we added skin, faces, voices, and more until they were almost exact replicas of humans. I say almost because people still take some liberties with them… For example, you have pointed ears, fangs, and cat eyes."

"So that's how it is?"

"That's how the Dolls came to be, yes. Now, I don't mean to interrupt your contemplation of this new knowledge, but if you could help me carry this back, that would be great."

"Yeah…" Crow said, going over the new knowledge. "Let's get this thing back to the hotel."

"Lucky for us this has a waterproof casing, so we can just wash it," Toshi said, relieved. "Otherwise we'd have to find some special wipes for electrical devices that aren't, and that'd be a pain. Meanwhile we'd have to deal with the stench every time we walked outside."

* * *

"Crow! Toshi!" Seto chirped, welcoming the two inside.

"I thought I told you to rest, ya' moron," Crow said.

"I did! I was worried about you guys, though. You took a long time, so I thought something bad might have happened."

"We had to find something on wheels to put this thing in; that's where we got the car. Hope you don't mind that we parked it on the grass," Toshi laughed. "I figured we can fix the lawn later; it needs trimming anyway."

"A… Car?" Seto repeated, looking out the door to see the vehicle on the grass.

"Next time, I drive!" Crow said.

"Ha, very funny. You need to be at least sixteen to drive!"

"But I'm-" Crow began, thinking for a moment. "How old _am _I?"

"We can run a scan when I fix up the computers at the same time we update your firewall," Toshi said. "Besides, there's not much gas left; best not to use it unless we really have to."

"Firewall?" Seto repeated again.

"Would you believe it? The only reason that thing knew my name is because I have a cheap firewall protecting my memories from other robots," Crow said, laughing. "Pretty anti-climactic, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess," Seto said, and smiled. "It's late. Come on, Crow, let's go to bed."

"Yeah, yeah, coming. You can clean those things on your own, right, Toshi? After all," Crow said, "I did all the work hauling those parts out to the car."

"Ah, fine, you boys rest. You could use it, after that scuffle of yours," Toshi admitted. "I'll have these ready to use by morning!"

* * *

**A/N**

**Ah, that was an uninteresting ending to the "I know your name" mini-story. But was it truly a mini-story, or is there more to it? BWAHAHAHAHA!**  
**Crow: There has to be more to it; where'd the robot come from? Since when did half of this stuff actually fucking happen in canon?**

**That's why it's called fanon, Crow. Fanon. Not canon. It's true that a lot of things in the world of science are discovered by mistake, though. Cures for diseases, for instance.**

**Merchant: You killed me off! You bitch!**

**What? You provided too much convenience to the characters, and I couldn't think of anything else to do with you. Don't worry, if I ever need you again for whatever reason, I'll come up with a revival plot. Besides, if Crow comes back to life, there has to be a trade-off.**

**Merchant: Nobody died for PF's revival!**

**Oh, you count for two people.**

**Merchant: …Why?**

**Because I don't like killing canon characters, now shuddup! If people really want you back, I'll bring you back.**

**SPECIAL THANKS**

**I thank all who reviewed. XCryingXBloodX was first, which told me that at least there's someone reading this obscure story in an obscure category. (It's rated M, meaning you can't see it by default in the FD section, which makes it even harder to find for those who aren't looking.) Then there's Pyra; thanks for the compliments. I can't reply because it's an anonymous review, so I'll just say it here. Finally, I want to thank Yami Ryo. Thanks for reviewing; it reminded me to add this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it!**


	5. Cloaking Devices and Twins

**A/N**

**Welcome back! I hope you enjoy the next chapter! Thank you for reviewing, if you've reviewed, and if you haven't, get back there and click the big shiny button. Now. Don't "I'm too lazy to log in" me, miss/mister! Click it! Review! If you don't have an account or are too lazy, submit it anonymously; I have that allowed in my preferences. Just review. I have to know people are reading this. T.T Anyway, I'm sorry about the terrible chapter names. I'm not the witty type. Oh, and merchant person, good news; a grand total of one person seemed to care that you died.**

**Merchant: Thank you, single person with a heart!**

**Oh, and special thanks to the reviews to chapter four, everyone! Cookies for you all! Yami Ryo came in first place; thank you! Pyra, too, it's great reading your reviews, even if you don't have an account. MomoSenpai8907, thanks for reviewing. Eikothepsycho, thank you, nice username, by the way. DJ Skylark and Aliorie, thank you for thinking the characters are in character. I hope it lasts. It can get annoying when characters all of a sudden go OOC. Anyway, thanks again, for the bazillionth time. All of your reviews are read and appreciated; don't be afraid to critique the story, though! If there's something you want to see improved, just go ahead and say it. I'm pretty thick-skinned, so-**

**Seto: In that case, I think you should do better when it comes to-**

**HOW COULD YOU, SETO? -sobs in a corner, sitting in a fetal position-**

**Seto: O.o**

**Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long. For some reason, FF was being a pain in the ass when it came to saving the document the other day.**

"Wake up, Crow."

"Five more minutes."

"Since when do you have trouble getting up?"

"No, really, I just need five more minutes to charge myself up to the max, 'kay?" Crow said.

"Oh. Alright, then!" Seto said, getting dressed after Crow turned back off.

"Okay, I'm up," Crow said about five minutes later, getting out of bed to see Seto reading a book. "You went to the library already? That was fast."

"It's a book on fighting techniques," Seto replied. "You think we can go to the library today?"

"Sure, why not? We could use a day off; you especially," Crow said, smiling. "You haven't had a break for a long time now; don't forget that you had to go through hell to rescue Ren."

"What about the search parties?"

"PF is searching the maps she's found for more potential locations, and Ren is still doing her little radio thing. They can take care of whatever pops up while they're gone; plus, the kids are trained enough to take care of themselves if something really bad happens. We can afford one day away from it all, on our own. Besides, technically we'll be scouting out the area for people at the same time."

"I don't think Ren will agree."

* * *

"Of course you can have a day off!" Ren said, nodding towards Crow and Seto. "PF is still searching the maps she's found for more potential locations, and I'm still searching over the radio. Besides, you'll be scouting the place out for more people, too!"

"That's exactly what I said," Crow mused. "Come on, Seto, it's a date!"

"D-date?" Ren and Seto said at the same time.

"What? I read that people go out on dates. Is there something wrong with that?" Crow asked curiously.

"Well, actually-" Ren began.

"It's great!" Seto said, turning a little red, but smiling nonetheless. "Thanks for letting us go, Ren. We'll bring back anyone and anything useful we find."

Her eyes widened for a moment, but then went back to normal, and she smiled. "No problem. Don't forget your weapons, though, and make sure you don't run into another one of those giant, robotic things, 'kay?"

"Okay!" Seto said, grinning. "We'll be careful. See you later, Ren!"

"Bye," Crow added. "Tell Toshi to hurry up fixing those computers, too. I feel violated, knowing my memory was just completely invaded the other day."

"I will."

"Wait, you're giving the robot a day off?" Yuki complained. "But-"

"Did you have to kill that thing?" Ren asked, pointing out the window where the giant hunk of metal from the day before lay in the yard.

"Well… No."

* * *

"So, where to first?" Crow asked, slinging his hand over Seto's shoulders.

"Umm, how about the library?"

"Sounds great!" Crow agreed. "That's over this way, through the park. Come on!" He leapt up onto the roller coaster tracks. "You coming, or do I have to steal your locket again?"

"Ah, coming!" Seto responded, climbing up the ladder to chase after Crow. _Just like before, _he thought, smiling and laughing. "Wait up, Crow!" _This place is so different during the day._

"Catch me if you can!" Crow responded, running down the tracks.

"No fair! You got a head start!" Seto called after him, running forward with joy in his heart. _Just for today… Just for today, I want to forget all the bad things that are happening. Is that wrong, Kami-sama?_

"Too bad! Come on, you could catch me last time! Or did my not being there with you all this time slow you down?"

"No way!"

They continued running around the roller coaster tracks for several more minutes, until finally, Seto found himself gasping for breath.

"Aww, I was hoping to get a little more fun out of you," Crow remarked, intentionally using the same words he had used before, for the sake of bringing more memories of their meeting to the surface. "You kept up well, though. Good job."

"Thanks. So, where's the library, anyway?"

"Follow me."

Crow leapt down, landing on his feet and immediately looking up at Seto. "Come on, jump, I'll catch you!"

"Umm…"

"Come on, you can trust me!"

Seto took a deep breath and leapt, sighing with relief when Crow caught him. "That was awful!"

"You should have seen the look on your face when you jumped," Crow laughed.

"That's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"Can you put me down now?"

"Why don't I just carry you?" Crow asked, leaping up onto the fence with Seto in his arms and taking off down it.

"Hey, wait, how do I know you won't fall like before?" Seto squealed.

"I'll be careful this time," Crow responded. "That was a stupid mistake; I was so wrapped up in poking fun at you that I forgot where exactly we were." He looked away, somewhat embarrassed.

"Glad you're finally admitting that you aren't perfect."

"I never claimed to b-"

Seto interrupted him with a kiss.

"Wh-what?" Crow said slowly, leaping down from the fence. "You… You've never kissed me on your own before."

"Did you not like it?"

"It's not that."

"Then what's the problem?"

Crow grinned and put Seto down, leading the way down a since overgrown path. "There's no problem. I just didn't expect it. You're usually really shy."

"I'm not that shy."

"Are you kidding? When we first met, you completely buckled every time I asked you a question or something. You were pretty thoroughly intimidated."

"You were leaping all over the place! No sane person wouldn't be!" Seto defended himself.

"Aww, that hurts, Seto, right here," Crow said with a small pout, putting a hand over his heart.

It was Seto's turn to let out a snort. "You look ridiculous, pouting."

"Do I, now?"

"Yeah."

"Hm, well, I know _you _look cute when you do it," Crow said, smirking.

"What? Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You just look adorable with a pout."

Seto pouted. "I do not."

"You're doing it right now, just look at yourself in a mirror or something!"

"Hmph."

"We're here," Crow said, walking up the steps of the library. "Hey, is anyone in here?" he called.

There was no response.

"Well, come on then, Seto," Crow said, entering the library.

"Woah! It's huge!" Seto gasped, looking around.

"It's paradise, isn't it?" Crow sighed dreamily. "I practically lived here before I started looking for the place in that picture. It's nice to be able to talk way out here, where we don't have that blonde-haired nuisance running around."

"You and Yuki should really learn to get along."

"I'd be fine talking to him if he stopped being such an ass."

"You shouldn't talk badly about people who aren't here. Besides, he might change!"

"I don't think he's ever going to change."

"Sure he will!"

"No he won't."

"Come on, Crow! Don't you trust me?" Seto asked, tilting his head to the side innocently.

"I trust _you. _Not him. You're too optimistic. If you try to see the good in everyone, you'll get yourself killed."

Seto frowned. "I've lived up until now."

"You got lucky; you had Crow here to teach you how to handle yourself!" Crow replied.

"Says the one who fell off a sign."

"Ah, well, anyway, this is a library; I'm going to stock up on books," Crow said, going to the shelves and trying to avoid the subject.

Seto nodded and laughed a little.

* * *

"Hey, Seto," Crow said, flipping through the pages of a book. "I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"What exactly are 'lovers?' "

"What?"

"In this book, it calls them 'lovers.' What is that?"

"Well… If you're someone's lover, you're even more than their best friend. It means you don't just care for them, you love and adore them. They're the most important person in the world to you. Or… That's what my grandpa said, at least."

"More… Than your best friend?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a lover, Seto?"

Seto turned red. "Well, no, why?"

"Then I'll be your lover."

"What?" Seto said, taken aback. "I mean, I…"

"Is something wrong?"

Seto paused. "There are a lot of implications to that."

"Maybe, but," Crow said, pulling Seto close to him. "You're the person I care about the most in the world. So… Doesn't that make you my lover? Or… Is there someone else?"

"No," Seto replied, smiling. "There's no one else. You're my most important person, Crow. It's just… It feels weird, using that word."

"Why?"

Seto shook his head. "I don't know. But it's a good weird."

"So if we're lovers, can I still kiss you?"

"Yeah, the old man I used to live with said that lovers did that a lot."

"Really? That's good," Crow said, pushing Seto against the table and pinning him there as he pressed his lips against those of the shorter boy's, only pulling away when they were both desperate for air. "I enjoy kissing you. It's weird, huh?" he mused. "Kissing in and of itself is such a strange practice. Putting your lips against someone else's… It's a wonder that it's enjoyable. But, even if it's odd, I feel like I could do it all day if I didn't need to breath."

"It'd get kind of boring after awhile, if you did… Don't you think?"

"Nah."

Suddenly, they heard the doors swing open.

"Oh my God!" the person at the door gasped. "Are you… Are you real? Are you… Alive?"

"What's it to you?" Crow asked, sounding almost disappointed, as if his moment had been ruined.

"Crow," Seto scolded for what seemed like the millionth time. "Yes, we're real. I'm Seto, and this is Crow. He's my…" He hesitated, only to smile and add, "Lover."

"You are real!" she cried, relieved, a book hugged against her chest like it had been the only thing that kept her going for a long time. "I've been alone for so long! My name is Meiko! It's so good to see you, both of you! I thought I was hallucinating or something when I heard the voices on the radio!"

"There are more of us not so far away," Seto said.

"Aww, to think our date will be interrupted showing her how to get back to the hotel," Crow said, pouting again. "Oh, well, I guess it can't be helped."

"More of you? More people? Do you have food?"

"Yes," Seto replied, noticing her bony frame. "And clean clothes, too. No offense, I mean. I just…"

"Yeah, I know. I haven't been able to bathe in forever. It's a hotel, right? Are there showers?" she asked, almost as if she didn't believe a thing she was hearing.

"Mmhmm! Come on, we'll show you the way back!" Seto said brightly.

"Hey, wait a minute… This can't be real, one of you is an elf," she said sadly. "So it really is a hallucination."

"I'm not an elf," Crow said, irritated. "It isn't a hallucination, it's because I'm a doll. Please don't jump on the same, 'let's shut him down because he's wasting resources' bandwagon as Yuki, or I'm afraid I _will _forcibly pick up Setoleave you here."

"Sorry for his behavior. He gets a little irritable every time people bring that up," Seto explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Meiko said. "I don't mean any harm, I swear. My best friend was a doll… But after Glass Cage, he got the same virus that turned most of the robots into bloodthirsty killers. I… I had to kill him, before he killed me." She looked at the ground. "I've had to kill a lot of things just to survive. It was hard. We traveled together for a long time before he finally just lost it."

"Did you say a virus caused them all to go berserk?" Crow asked, eyes widening.

"Then why aren't all of them affected?" Seto asked.

"Is it alright if I explain on the way?"

"Sure, go ahead. It's a long walk if we don't do any fence-jumping, and I certainly can't carry _both _of you," Crow sighed, though inside he was extremely interested. "I'll lead the way. Keep talking, Meiko."

"Well, my father was actually the person who manufactured the virus," she said sadly, adjusting her glasses and clutching her book. "He worked on Glass Cage, but he never told anyone why. I assumed it was one of those military things. He did a lot of that. I think it was just an accident that it got released among Japan's robots."

"That wasn't a long explanation," Crow complained. "But, either way, it's good to know. Tell me, how injured is your friend?"

"You can't fix him," she said quietly, eyes low again. "I had to completely tear him apart. It was the only way, because… Because even after I shut him off, he kept attacking. Even after I kept stabbing him…"

"You seem awful calm about this," Crow remarked.

"Crow," Seto warned.

"It's been a long time since then. Besides… He wouldn't have wanted me to cry," Meiko said, lip quivering. "I have to stay strong."

"I'm sorry," Seto said sadly.

"Hey, I don't mean to intrude," she began after a few minutes, "but did you say he was your lover, Seto?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well… It's not that you're a robot, so don't get me wrong," Meiko said upon seeing Crow's twitch. "It's just that… You're both guys."

"Ah, that's right…" Seto said. "Grandpa said it was usually one guy, and one girl."

"Emphasis on usually," Crow said quickly. "Right?"

"There's nothing wrong with being gay; it's just a little unusual, is all," Meiko insisted. "I didn't mean to offend either of you, I'm sorry!"

"Gay?" Crow repeated.

"He's a little clueless, too," Seto said, laughing a little.

"The hell? What are you two keeping from me?"

"I'm sorry!" Meiko said again.

"But what does 'gay' mean, damn it?" Crow asked again.

"Have Toshi explain or something," Seto responded.

"Come on, Seto! Tell me!" Crow whined.

"Whining suits you just as well as pouting did!" Seto said, resisting the urge to giggle madly.

"Shut up and stop keeping secrets!" he insisted, becoming a little frustrated.

"I can't tell you if I have to shut up."

"Gah!" Crow exclaimed, and couldn't help but feel that maybe he had been influencing Seto a little more than he had hoped.

* * *

"Oi!" Crow called. "We brought back some girl named Meiko!"

"Really?" Ren asked, immediately coming to the door.

"Do you mind hooking her up with a room and some food?" Crow asked.

"I'm sorry for being a bother!" Meiko apologized.

"Please don't be sorry, come right in!" Ren said, smiling. "We'll take it from here; why don't you two continue doing… Whatever it was you were doing?"

"I hope there isn't a double-meaning to that," Kikyo said quietly, eye twitching slightly.

"Alright; Meiko, do you mind explaining that thing about the virus to the others?" Seto asked.

"Especially Toshi," Crow added. "He's our resident techy-guy."

"No problem at all," she said. "Thank you for everything!"

"Well, now that we've dropped her off, how about we go back to the library? I can carry you."

"Why don't we just sit in the park for a bit?"

"Not in the mood for more fence-jumping today, huh?" Crow asked. "Well, it's understandable. Come on."

"So, Crow, I have a question," Seto said, sitting down on a bench.

"What?"

"After you found out that you were a doll… How did you suddenly know exactly how you worked?"

"I don't really know. It just came with the memories, I guess."

"Oh. So… What exactly are your memories?"

"Not much," Crow sighed. "All I can remember is that I'm a doll, and how I work. I want to know more about my past… Why was I made? Is it for something good, or… Something bad?"

"That's a stupid thing to worry about, Crow," Seto said, frowning. "It doesn't matter what you were made for; you're a good person."

"That's the problem," Crow said. "What if I'm _not _a good person? What if I've killed people, Seto?"

Seto thought for a moment. "You haven't killed anyone," he said confidently.

"How do you know?"

"Because whether or not you can remember who you were before, you're a good person now."

"What if," Crow said quietly. "Were I to regain my memories… What if I'm not a good person anymore?"

"You'll always be a good person."

Crow frowned, not sure how to respond.

_"Crow!" _a voice called sharply.

"What's that?" Seto asked.

"I don't know…" Crow said slowly. "It doesn't sound like anyone from the hotel; do you recognize it?"

"No…"

_"Traitor!" _it growled.

"Pull out your sword, Seto," Crow said, eyes widening. "This is bad."

"Another one of these things?"

"Well, maybe it isn't so bad," Crow said, looking around for the source of the noise. "We could use more scrap metal! Come out, you coward!"

_"My fallen counterpart's death cry brought me here. Any threat to the project must be shut down."_

"Where _are _you?" Crow called angrily. "Get out here and fight!"

_"I am."_

The voice was a lot louder, as if something were right in front of them. "What is this?" Seto asked, looking around.

_"Cloaking device error."_

"Shit!" Crow said, grabbing Seto by the waist and leaping up onto the roller coaster tracks before a knife, which had just become visable, sliced through them both.

"It can turn invisible?" Seto realized, jaw dropping as the knife vanished again.

"Cloaking devices work by reflecting light around the device in question, but they only work if the exterior is completely clean; we should be able to see it if we can cover it with something! For now, though, we have to run!" Crow responded, dashing down the tracks. "Come on, Seto!"

The brunette followed him, flinching every time a piece of the train tracks seemed to get crunched up right behind him. "What now, Crow?"

"Is the hole I tricked you into falling down still there?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Jump in! I'll catch you!" Crow said, leaping off the tracks and landing in it. "Now, Seto!"

Figuring he didn't want to meet the same fate as the tracks being destroyed not too far away, Seto leapt for the hole, relaxing a little when he was caught by Crow.

"We can't stop now, through that hole over there!" Crow said, clambering into it. "Quick, there should be some old paint here somewhere!"

"I'm looking, I'm looking!"

_"You can't hide in there forever!" _the voice growled, and Seto heard digging noises.

"It's too big to fit down here as the hole is now; we have a little time, keep looking!" Crow said, scanning the room.

"I should have brought a flashlight, damn it," Seto murmured, looking around. "Ah, will this work?" he asked, taking a can of green paint and holding it up to Crow.

"You take that, I'll take the black one!" Crow replied, grabbing the paint right next to it. "We have to get to someplace high so we can dump this on it!"

"The ferris wheel?"

"That'll have to do for now, let's go!" Crow agreed, and they both continued through the hole. "This way, here we go, almost there…"

"I know how to get out of this, you know, considering I had to in order to get my locket back."

They heard the crunching of metal behind them.

"It's in, run faster, damn it!"

Finally, they reached the surface. "The ferris wheel is that way!" Seto said, running towards it and clambering on top of the lowest cart. It tilted back and forth with his weight, but he jumped to the next one. Crow followed suit.

"How do we get up to that one?" Crow asked nobody in particular, looking up at the one directly above their heads.

"Climb up the center piece," Seto replied, pointing to the circular device in the center that the carts were attached to and tightening his jaw when he saw and heard the carts beneath them behind crushed.

It wasn't long before they were in the center of the ferris wheel, holding on to a spoke to keep from falling.

That's when the cloaked machine pressed a switch in the operator's booth below.

"That's not good…" Crow said, and the wheel lurched forward, slowly beginning to spin. "Hold on tight, Seto!"

"W-woah!" Seto cried, holding onto the spoke with one hand and the paint with another. "What the hell?"

"You've now seen the point to a ferris wheel! They fucking spin! Didn't your grandpa ever take you to a carnival or something? Seriously, you sound like a shut-in!"

"Do not!"

"Now's not the time to argue, Seto! Quick, the paint!"

"Where is it?"

Crow pointed to a spot where the spokes were being broken as the bot climbed up the wheel. "Throw it there!"

Seto nodded and tossed the open container of paint down, along with Crow. Both spilled onto it. Surprised, it let go of the spokes it was holding onto and fell to the ground.

"There's the central piece; it controls the rest of the body!" Crow said to Seto, nodding to a piece that was sticking up out of the rest of the device. "We have to stab tha- SETO!"

Seto had already jumped down, sword pointed towards the weak point. After a short fall, the blade was plunged into the device, ensuring the creature's demise. The brunette buckled as he hit the ground, unable to stand back up.

Crow immediately landed beside him. "You idiot, you should have let me do that! You're human, you can't fall that far and expect to be okay!"

_"Traitor," _the bot droned. _"All threats to the project… Must be… Eliminated… Don't think this ends here." _With that, it was silenced.

"I think… My legs," Seto groaned, face twisted in agony. "They're broken…"

"Don't move, alright? I'll carry you back," Crow said quickly, rolling Seto's pants up; it truly was bad. The bone itself was poking slightly out of the skin. He rolled them back down, not wanting to expose the injury to the elements. "I don't want to move you, but you're helpless out here on your own… The dogs would probably eat you alive." Crow clenched his teeth, knowing he had no choice. Despite Seto's injuries, his death was all but guaranteed if he stayed alone where he was, and the others didn't expect them back for a few more hours; if he waited for help, Seto could die of internal bleeding. "This might hurt, but try to deal, okay?"

"I can't… I can't really feel anything anymore."

"Let's hope that's the adrenaline," Crow said, easing him up. "Not your spine."

* * *

"I'm pretty sure I can fix him up," the doctor said. "Thankfully, everything important seems to be intact. It is possible to fix spines nowadays, but that's not my specialty; I couldn't do much, so it's good that it's intact. The bandages and splints in my bag ought to be enough, but you won't be able to walk on your own for a week or so. These pills will make your bones heal faster than they would on their own," he said, taking out the tablets in question and setting two on the table. "But first, I'll have to put everything back into place. You should all probably leave; there might be a lot of screaming."

Seto laughed nervously.

"So he'll be all set soon, right?" Crow asked.

"Yes, but he'll be wheelchair-bound for the next week, like I said. There should be some from the rentals area of the mall."

"I'll get it, then," Crow decided. "It's my fault this happened."

"It's not your fault," Seto replied. "Jumping like that was really stupid of me…"

"Nah, I should have been quicker," Crow insisted.

"Someone should go with you, just in case," Ren said after they left the room. "Why don't you take Yuki?"

"Why him?" Crow asked, eyes narrowing.

"Because you two need to learn to get along! You wait at the entrance to the shortcut, and I'll get him. Don't try to leave on your own, either, or else," she added at the end.

"Or else what?"

"Seto will be disappointed."

Crow rolled his eyes. It wasn't the threat he had imagined, but Seto was already going to be in a wheelchair for the next week; it was the least he could do to try and get along with Yuki, like the brunette wanted. "Fine."

He waited for about ten minutes before Ren returned with the boy. "Now you two play nice, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," they both said in unison.

"Come on then," Crow said, going through the door and already heading off down the tunnel.

"Hey, wait up! I have the flashlight!"

"I don't need a flashlight," Crow replied, closing the door behind them.

"What, can you light up your eyes or something, ya' freaking robot?"

"No, but my eyes were modeled after cat eyes; I don't need as much light to see as you do."

"Freak."

"We can hurl insults at each other all day, but that's not going to help us much, is it?"

"It's your fault Seto is injured, anyway. The robot was after you, wasn't it?"

"It was after us both for killing the first; they're all out to kill humanity, anyway. You'd have to confront them soon enough."

"You should have been the one to jump."

"I would have if I knew that's what he was going to do."

Yuki glared at him. "I don't like you."

"I can tell."

"So, where are the rentals?" Yuki asked, the both of them stepping into the shopping area.

"How should I know?"

"You're a robot; can't you calculate it?"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you."

"You're fucking useless!"

"Good to know."

"Are you listening to anything I'm saying?"

"Not really."

"Why the hell are we doing this together, anyway?"

"Because Seto thinks we need to get along better."

"Oh, and what the hell is this about you and Seto being lovers that Meiko kept talking about? You can't be lovers, you're a robot!"

"I prefer the term 'doll.' Using that word implies that I can do the same things as PF, which is very misleading to people with brains as incompetent as yours. Really, your intelligence is low for even a human," Crow joked.

"Fuck you!"

"No thanks, now that I know what that means."

"Bastard."

"Seeing that I'm not human, as you've constantly been pointing out, it's impossible for me to be such."

"Damn it, stop that!"

"Stop what? Making witty comebacks to annoy you? Maybe if you stopped insulting me, I wouldn't have to!" Crow responded, almost enjoying the 'game' of sorts he was playing with the other boy.

"You're all the same!" Yuki snapped. "Every single one of you! You're all the fucking same!"

"Identical twins are the same, too, aren't they?" Crow asked. "But they end up being really different from each other." He paused. "Hm, that's a rather dramatic line for me… I've been hanging around Seto too long."

At that, Yuki simply punched him in the face. "I hate you!"

"What the hell was that for?" Crow growled, rubbing his cheek, but Yuki had already run off. "Hey, wait, this place is dangerous!" he called, running after the blonde-haired boy. "Aw, shit."

"Here I coooooome," a voice chimed, and Crow grunted in frustration as a door slammed shut behind Yuki.

"The hell is that thing?" Yuki cried from inside.

"Just kill it, quickly! I'll try to find the key!" Crow said, unable to help but feel a little sympathy for the boy; he was far from in any real danger, but he had been in a fairly large group when they had found him (large by post-apocalyptic standards, of course), and clearly hadn't dealt with many spirits before.

"OUCH! It kicked me!"

"Here I coooooome!" it said again.

Not finding anything, Crow did what any sane person would do; he kicked down the door and used it to smash the pants against the wall.

"That was…" Yuki began. "It took you long enough!"

"Oh, really, I'm fine, it was no problem saving your ass," Crow said, rolling his eyes.

"Alright, alright, thanks," Yuki said reluctantly as Crow helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

"I'm sorry for letting you hit me."

"Anyway…" Yuki said, sighing. "I'm sorry, again, for being such an ass."

"Join the club, we have jackets."

"No, really, I'm sorry. You see… I… I had a sibling."

Seeing that the conversation had turned serious, Crow decided to let the boy speak. "Did he die during Glass Cage?"

"Yeah, he did… But the thing is, he was my identical twin."

"You had a twin?"

"Yeah… But then one day, he… He raped someone. He went to prison for it, and rightfully so, but…"

"What?"

"From then on, people treated me different. Every time I even touched a girl's shoulder or something, I would get angry looks from everyone around me. They all thought I was going to do the same thing as him, because we had the exact same genetics. But I'm not like that!" Yuki insisted. "I would never do something so awful to anybody! It isn't fair… I guess I've been taking it out on you. But just because a lot of robots might be built exactly the same, I guess they're still different from the others. Different experiences, different set of morals, and… Dare I say it, different souls."

"I'm sorry," Crow said instinctively, though intrigued by the mention of a 'soul.' Only then did he notice what was quite obviously a cross on the boy's necklace. _People are still religious, even now?_ "So… Do you think we can start over? You know, and be friends?" _After all that's happened?_

"Sure," Yuki said, nodding. "Anyway, as luck would have it, this is the rental room. Let's take one of these wheelchairs back to Seto, huh?"

"Yeah," Seto said, and leaned down to kiss Yuki on the lips. Shocked, Yuki pulled himself away immediately.

"What the hell was that? I thought Seto was your lover!"

"He is; friends give each other kisses, though, don't they? That's what I read."

"No, _lovers _give each other kisses. Friends give each other man-hugs!"

"Oh," Crow said, frowning. "Seto never tried to stop me from kissing him before… Well, I'll just do it the right way from now on, then, huh?" He gave Yuki a hug.

"Uh, you can stop now. This is gone from 'man-hug' to 'romantic hug.' "

"What's the difference?"

"You don't know jack shit about relationships, do you?"

* * *

**A/N**

**Aww, Crow and Yuki are finally getting along! Kinda-sorta. I'm trying to give every character a backstory, here. They all have histories. Yay!**

**Crow: Seriously, man-hug?**

**It's Yuki's personality. Personally, I call them "yaoi hugs."**

**Crow: That's even worse!**

**Seto: Can't we just call them hugs and be done with it?**

**That wouldn't be any fun! Anyway, I don't mean to use Yuki to portray religion in a negative way; it was, truthfully, added last-minute, to be a little more obvious about Yuki's reluctant acceptance of Crow. If it wasn't obvious enough, it's obvious now that you've read this author's note. Besides, I feel like I have to have at least one religious character in this story, even though Yuki's potty-mouth kind of kills it all. Think of it as a 'what kind of twisted God would do this?' subplot. Conflicted faith is always fun to write about, especially in the aftermath of what is clearly a worldwide tragedy on a massive scale. As for me, I take no stance on the issue. Again, I don't mean to offend any religious readers, I swear. I'm trying to go the extra mile to include you guys in the mix, if there are any of you there. That's what being truly open-minded is, after all, right? You can't portray any one group in a particularly negative fashion, because there are both good and bad people in every one! (Except the specific groups, like 'serial killers.' You really can't have a good one of those.)**

**Seto: Don't you get pissed about political correctness, tho-**

**Shut up and let me look like a noble person, dang it! And yes, I stole the "join the club, we have jackets" line from Shrek 2. Or, given that Shrek is a parody of all things fictional, I stole it from wherever THEY stole it from. I dunno, I just love that line.**


	6. Revelations and the Start of a Plan

**A/N**

**Thank you for continuing to read Loose Ends! We're back with another chapter! Enjoy! I'm glad to see that slowly but surely, more stories are being added to this section. Now I wish I could read German, though. Good thing there are some cheap translators online to help me out, right? In other news, there is a chipmunk sitting on my porch as I type. Fascinating! I almost want to leave it some food. It's just too cute! Hey, look, a crow! Coincidences, huh?**  
**Crow: Coincidence? Crows are everywhere! Where have you been for the last couple million years?**

**On the computer, of course!**

**Crow: …Why? Why do I even bother?**

* * *

"Thanks for going through all that trouble for me," Seto said, easing himself into the wheelchair.

"You ought to be thankful this place has elevators," Crow remarked. "Otherwise you'd be screwed trying to go up and down the stairs."

"On a better note, Crow and I are friends now!" Yuki said.

"Really? That's great!" Seto chirped.

"I also thought you ought to know that your boyfriend kissed me."

"E-eh?" Seto said, feeling a little jealous.

"Well, it's not my fault! You should have told me it was only a thing lovers did!" Crow insisted. "I mean, I honestly thought… Ah, fine, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it."

"It's alright; I probably should have told you," Seto said, laughing a little.

"So now, it's just man-hugs for anyone but Seto!" Crow said firmly.

Seto just blinked at him. "Man-hugs?"

"Or did someone give me the wrong information again?" Crow asked, turning to Yuki.

"Well, generally they're just called 'hugs,' " Yuki replied. "Eheh."

"Argh! What is it with humans and not giving people the specifics when they ask something? It's infuriating!"

"Anyway, Toshi already went to collect that other robot; he looked overjoyed when I told him about it," Seto told them, making sure they were in touch with what had happened while they were gone.

"What-a-nerd," Yuki coughed.

"It's that nerd that turned the power back on; otherwise we'd all still be in the dark," Crow pointed out.

_"You_ wouldn't have any problems," Yuki grumbled.

"Yeah, but I'd rather you see the triumphant look on my face when I verbally abuse you."

"I thought you said you were friends now…" Seto said, confused.

" 'Friends' doesn't translate to 'agreeable people,' " Crow responded.

* * *

"It's a little weird seeing you in a wheelchair," Kikyo mused as they sat down to eat.

"It's a little weird _being _in a wheelchair," Seto replied. "I can push it myself, Crow, you don't have to do it for me."

"You move too slow," Crow replied.

"I'm sorry, everybody. I can't exactly help search now," Seto apologized.

"You've done quite enough as it is," Ren replied. "Honestly, I'm almost glad you broke your legs. Maybe you'll finally get the rest you were supposed to have today."

"What if another one of those robots shows up?" Seto asked, frowning.

"We have a small army behind us now; if they show up, we can take them out on our own," Ren replied. "You aren't the only one who can fight, Seto."

"Maybe, but he's the only one who can do it _well," _Kikyo added quietly.

"Hey! Practice makes perfect, right?" Ren said.

"I can fight well," Crow said, frowning.

"Of course _you _can, it's probably in your progra- I'll shut up now," Yuki said, laughing nervously when Crow turned his head towards him and gave him a 'don't you fucking dare say it' look.

"It isn't a problem we can just ignore, though," Toshi said. "These robots are probably all over the place."

"You're a scientist-technician-thingy guy, right?" Crow asked. "Can't you make a robot to be used on our side? Especially with that fancy little cloaking device."

"I could try, seeing that I have far more parts than I need at the moment…" Toshi said slowly. "It sounds like a good plan. But first, I finished fixing the computers, so how about we do that firewall update? I've already done it to PF, just in case."

"Ah, right," Crow said, remembering. "See you guys in a little bit; you can get on without me for that long, right, Seto?"

"I'm not helpless, you know," Seto said, rubbing his bandaged legs. "While you're upstairs, can you ask the doctor if he has any painkillers? I know I said they didn't bother me before, but my legs hurt a lot now, so…"

"Sure."

* * *

"Alright, so, where's the spot I can plug this into?" the scientist asked.

"Same place as my batteries," Crow replied, removing his shirt in advance.

"I figured as much," Toshi said, using the cellphone-like device to open up the compartment.

"There's something odd about having someone opening up a door on your back," Crow remarked as Toshi plugged in a wire.

"I can only imagine."

After the computer loaded the information, a screen popped up, displaying a wall of code that Crow found himself completely unable to understand.

"This is strange…" Toshi said, eyes narrowing after a few minutes.

"What's strange?"

"This is all completely up to date! More than up to date, in fact; there's practically no room for error!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that unless that other robot had turn-of-the-century hacking software, there's absolutely nothing that could possibly get through this. It's no wonder the virus Meiko told me about hasn't gotten to you."

"So that robot might actually know me?"

"Don't worry, it was probably just what I said; turn of the century hacking software. No code is completely perfect, that's impossible. The robots were probably leftover from the Glass Cage project, and seeing that the team was filled with the best and the brightest, they were most likely programmed by people who knew what they were doing."

"So you don't have anything to update, then?"

"This covers the extent of what I know how to do, so no," Toshi said. "I have to say, the person who made you must have had something important in mind for you; no sane person would spend this much time trying to protect something important. Do you mind if I, well, just take a quick look…?" he asked slowly, trailing off at the end.

"I would like to know more about my past," Crow admitted.

"Very well." With that, Toshi pressed a few buttons on the computer; another screen popped up. "Password required? Do you remember what it was?"

"Nope."

"Let's see about overriding this, then," Toshi said, taking a few more minutes fiddling with the information before him.

"You aren't going to delete or screw anything up, right?"

"The data is copied and brought over here; even if I deleted information and saved it, I'd still have to go through a lengthy upload procedure that no one alive could possibly do unintentionally." Another screen popped up. "Locked out? Damn it. You can go now, Crow. It might take me awhile to figure this out. Just unplug yourself first, please; that's the only wire we have, and breaking it would mean having to find another."

"Got it."

* * *

"So, Crow, did Toshi do the update?" Seto asked, rolling the wheelchair over to him.

"Apparently, I don't need one after all," Crow replied. "Pretty stupid, huh? Now he's trying to access information about my past through that whole thing."

"Why?"

"How should I know? I just hope there isn't anything embarrassing in there, if he does get in. Are your legs feeling better?"

"Kind of. Not being able to walk feels so weird, though, and Ren won't let me go outside on my own."

"Since when did you start taking orders from her?"

"She was pretty adamant about it."

"Well, if I go with you tomorrow, you won't be alone, right? But just in case, we won't go far. Right now, though, I need to charge, and you need to sleep. Let's go to bed."

"Yeah, good idea."

* * *

"Good morning, Crow," Seto yawned, seeing that Crow was already up and about. Instinctively, he moved to put his feet on the floor, frowning when he remembered he had to lift himself over to a wheelchair. "Ah, that's right… I broke them yesterday…"

"You forgot already?" Crow asked, lifting Seto up himself and helping him into the chair.

"I can do it myself."

"Like I said before, you're too slow; besides, Ren put me in charge of you for the next week. It's a pain, but hey, what are you gonna do, right? After all… She was pretty adamant about it."

"There's just something about her that makes it impossible not to do what she tells you."

"She just gives you that look," Crow agreed. "The one that seems kind of threatening, but at the same time sickeningly sweet, like a teddy bear with a death glare. You just agree so she won't _look_ at you that way anymore." He shivered a little.

* * *

"Come on, Kikyo," Ren called. "We have to stay together!"

"But what if one of those things shows up again?" Kikyo asked, looking around nervously. "Only Crow and Seto know how to beat them."

"I asked Crow about it; if they show up, we have to attack the central piece," Ren said, relaxed. "Come on, we're armed and ready. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Why are we out here, anyway?" Kikyo inquired as they cut through the city park, since having become overgrown with weeds.

"More bandages from the hospital. The doctor said he's running out; between Seto's legs, and the kids getting into a heap of trouble, there have been problems lately."

"Why couldn't I have stayed behind?" Kikyo whined.

"PF isn't agile enough for this, and Yuki cut himself on a rusty piece of metal in that mess with the spirit."

"I could take care of Seto instead of Crow!"

Ren turned to Kikyo. "Just between you and me, Toshi is the one who wanted Crow to stay behind. He said he needed an excuse to run a few more tests and see if we can find any more about his past."

"You're going behind his back?"

"He wants to know more, too. I just knew he wouldn't listen if I told him that it was Toshi's suggestion."

The bushes rustled. "What's that?" Kikyo squeaked, holding up her hammer.

A squirrel came out, took one look at them, and zoomed off. "They're a lot bigger than that," Ren pointed out. "We'd probably hear or see it coming."

"What if it has a cloaking device?"

"Those are really uncommon, and Toshi said they're extremely difficult to make. The odds that they all have cloaking devices are low."

There was a bark. "Dog!" Kikyo wailed, swinging her hammer about wildly.

"Stop it before you break it!" Ren insisted, catching the weapon in her hand before Kikyo hurt herself. "That's enough, calm down!" She proceeded to shoot said dog in the head with her crossbow. "See? Just relax, and everything will work out."

"How are you so calm about everything?"

"Almost dying changes you," Ren replied, looking away. "If I hadn't panicked when I met Seto… If I didn't run away… If I had the guts _not _to listen to what Shin told me to do, we could have worked together to fix things. We could have started searching faster. But, I can't let past mistakes bother me," she finished. "From here on out, we have to work hard to save as many people as possible. Or, at the very least, we have to make sure they don't die alone."

Kikyo sighed. "I'm not strong enough for this. I should have died in the place of someone else… Someone stronger."

"Don't say that!" Ren said. "Seto's hardly a brave and burly person, but he gets along fine. If you just try your best and work hard to improve yourself, it'll get better."

"Easier said than done."

All of a sudden, the ground shook.

"An earthquake?" Ren thought out loud, looking around to make sure they weren't next to anything that could fall on them. "Get down."

"What about everyone back at the hotel?"

"Most of the buildings here are able to withstand all sorts of natural disasters. That's what PF says."

It stopped quickly. "That's weird… Aren't they usually longer?"

An arm shot out of the ground.

_"All threats to the project must be eliminated."_

"Ren?" Kikyo addressed in a small voice, turning to the silver-haired girl for guidance.

"These just don't know when to quit," Ren said, holding up her crossbow and stepping back.

_"Two homo sapiens… Female. Young. Scanning," _it droned, bursting out of the ground. _"No match with current targets. Decision; eliminate."_

"No match? Could it be that it's looking for Seto and Crow?" Ren guessed, running back and shooting at it with a crossbow. Her arrows were promptly deflected. "No good! We have to run!"

"What do we do now?" Kikyo asked, biting her lip and running alongside Ren. "That thing wants to kill us!"

"Depends. You want to distract it, or should I?"

"What?"

"We'll split up. Whoever it doesn't follow sneaks up from behind and hits its brain! Got it?"

"Uh, sure, right!" Kikyo replied, trying not to cry. "I'll go that way!"

The machine stomped after her. _"Pursue lesser threat."_

"ReeeEEEEEN!" she wailed, jumping and completely clearing a bench in her way.

On the other side, Ren pulled an arrow out of her crossbow and tossed it to the side. "Here goes nothing."

Kikyo gasped for breath as she ran into a building, the arms of the huge machine tearing the wall apart and following her inside until her back was against the wall. "Shit, shit, shit!" she whimpered, holding up her hammer.

That was when Ren dropped down from the roof, plunging an arrow into the center piece. She let out a cry as the bot slammed her off before shutting down itself. _"Mission failed… Sending report… Error… An irreversible error has occurred…"_

"Ren!" Kikyo cried, running over to her. There was a gash in her side where she'd been struck. "Oh, please don't be dead."

"I'm fine," Ren replied, lifting up her head. "A little help?"

"Umm…" Kikyo murmured, turning a little green as she saw the blood. "I… Yeah. Let's get back home." She helped pull Ren to her feet.

"No, not yet. We need to get the bandages!"

"You're too injured. I'll get the bandages on my own, alright?" Kikyo said. "Can you get home on your own?"

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Ren asked, holding her side. "I can walk, so I'm all set, but…"

"No, we need bandages as soon as possible. You go back. I can handle it."

* * *

"Ren!" Seto gasped as she staggered inside. "Are you alright?"

"Kikyo's getting the bandages. We got attacked by one of those bots," Ren replied, the pain surprisingly absent from her voice.

"Crow! Crow, get the doctor!" Seto said.

"Already on it," Crow replied, dashing up the stairs.

"Ren, you have to sit!" Seto told her.

"I'm alright, Shin put me through worse."

"That was all sterile! It could get infected, or you could bleed to death!"

"Really, I'm… Fine," she said, swaying slightly. "My head feels kind of funny, though." She giggled a little, and collapsed.

"REN!" Seto cried, leaning over and trying to pull her back up.

"I'm here, I'm here," the doctor said, running over. "Crow, help me carry her back upstairs, quickly!"

"What's wrong?" Yuki asked, coming up from behind Seto as Crow and the doctor carried Ren upstairs.

"Ren got hurt, badly. Kikyo should be back with the bandages soon, though… I hope she's alright…" Seto said, worried. "Yuki, we should check."

"I'll go alone; you can't do anything at the moment," Yuki replied.

"No need to," Kikyo replied from the doorway, a bag in her arms, face covered in sweat as she tried to catch her breath after what appeared to be a run back. "Is Ren okay?"

"She's upstairs," Seto said, pointing. "Please, hurry!"

Kikyo nodded and did just that. "Thank you!"

"This is bad. Those things aren't giving up. We're in trouble if they start to attack in groups," Yuki said, holding the cross on his necklace.

"It's almost like they're aware of our general location, but not where we're hiding out," Seto said, thinking. "Maybe we should have people on the watch at night, to make sure they don't get us in our sleep…"

"I'll tell the others. You go check on Ren and make sure she's okay," Yuki agreed. "We'll figure out who gets the night watch."

"She'll be fine," the doctor said confidently, exiting the room as Seto wheeled himself to the door. "I've disinfected and bandaged everything. There was a lot of blood lost because of the walk, but the wound itself wasn't too bad."

"Thank you!" Kikyo said, hugging him. "I wish I had done more in that fight… It didn't hurt me at all."

"How much you get hurt isn't necessarily a symbol of how hard you worked," Ren replied, stepping out of the room.

"Ah, you really should lie down for the next day or so!" the doctor said urgently.

"I can walk back to bed on my own," Ren replied, heading in the direction of her room.

"Forget it, I'll carry you," Crow said, lifting her up off her feet.

"Hey, I can do it myself, you know!"

"That's just what Seto seems to think. Is that another trait you humans share?"

"Seto! We've finished setting up a night watch," Yuki said, coming up the stairs. "The people we chose for tonight are getting some rest now so they have the energy to stay up."

"Thanks, Yuki."

"What's with all the commotion?" Toshi asked, exiting his room.

"Ren got hurt pretty badly by another one of those robots," Yuki replied.

"Another one?" Toshi repeated. "That settles it, then. I'll start building something to defend us immediately. There's no time to waste."

* * *

"Hey, Seto?" Crow addressed as he helped the boy into bed.

"Yeah?"

"Those bots… From what I understood when Ren told me about it, those bots sounded like they were looking for us specifically."

Seto frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I wanted to see what you thought."

"I think…" Seto began, and took a deep breath. "Maybe… If I gave myself up, they'd leave everyone else alone?"

"I thought you'd say that," Crow said, sitting down beside Seto.

"So what do you think?"

"I agree."

"Then I'll have to go-"

"Hold on there, buddy, I'm going with you. They're after the both of us, not just you."

"But Crow, you-"

"Now listen here, those robots all called me a 'traitor,' right? As if I was on their side?"

Seto began to smile. "You have a plan?"

"Yeah. Whether or not the others will buy into it is another matter, but it's all we've got for now."

"Alright, then, I'm listening."

* * *

**A/N**

**Something about this chapter felt… Off, for me. I finished it late at night, so maybe that's why. Next chapter is when the plot (hopefully) starts to heat up a little, and you get a little insight as to where the robot things are coming from, why, etc. As well as Crow's past, and maybe even a little more of Seto's. :3 You'll find it all out eventually; the "maybes" are coming from the fact that it may be the next chapter, or the one after that. It all depends on what it looks like when I finally start to write. For now, I'm taking a break for the night. Enjoy your chapter! These are each about 9-10 pages on Microsoft Word, so I swear, I'm trying my hardest to provide you with decent plot advancement each time. Please tell me if you want any changes, any at all. Suggestions, critique, anything. They're called reviews for a reason. Not "compliment boxes." My skin is leather!**

**Seto: Really? Well, as I was saying last time, I think-**

**WAAAAAAH! STOP HURTING ME, SETO!**

**Crow: Uhg.**

**NOTE**

**FF was giving me trouble with submitting this chapter, so if it ends up a little screwy, please drop a review and tell me!**


	7. Ominous Mini Chapter

**A/N**

**You may have noticed that the scroll bar to the right reveals a terrifyingly short chapter. "Is this it?" you may be thinking. "Is she ending it here, where it shall remain eternally unfinished along with 90 percent of the other stories here on FF?" Not so! Rather, I just got a very informative review from none other than Aliorie that pretty much detailed exactly why I didn't feel right about that last chapter. Thanks for putting it into words! Now, I was standing in the shower-**

**Seto: Why the shower?**

**As I was saying before Seto interrupted me, I was standing in the shower not to long ago trying to figure out how to patch it up without completely re-writing the last chapter, and suddenly, a plot-advancing idea occurred to me. Now, UNfortunately for all you lemon enthusiasts out there, this means delaying the part you're all waiting for a little longer, but trust me, I'll try to make it worth it in that the story will be of better quality over all. Besides, I have a limey filler idea for later on that won't make sense after a lemon has already happened. You're all adults (or, if you're not, should be, but hey, don't ask, don't tell; it's not my business, nor my responsibility to keep you from reading what's clearly an M-rated work of fanfiction), so you can wait.**

**Crow: You have to be an adult to read about people below eighteen screwing?**

**…You can haz cheeseburger, cat-boy!**

**Crow: What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You're crazy!**

**Lrn2internet!**

**NOTICE**

**This chapter is short for a reason. It's the point of view of other people. Who that is, well, that's for later. I know I promised you'd learn more this chapter, but I'm not going to get the actual thing out for two or three days. So… Here's an ominous plot hint chapter! Feel free to imagine the dark shadows over the faces of the people speaking, just as there would be in a comic and/or movie.**

* * *

"Number 364," a voice addressed sharply.

"Awaiting orders, sir."

"What is the status of the drones we sent out to scout for the human hideout?"

"Bad, sir. Three have already been dispatched, though two of the humans were injured. One scanned the blood of a female before she died, but hers isn't the one we're looking for. The other female with her was a year too young to be it."

"And they dispatched them all?"

"No, sir. The other two were taken out by a boy and…"

"And what?"

"And Crow, sir."

"Crow?" the first repeated, both irritated and curious at the same time. "Why would he be destroying our bots?"

"It appears he's on the same side as the other humans. He's very protective of the boy with him, though. Here's the image we got right before the second one they took out shut down." 364 walked up to a machine and pressed a button, bringing up an image of Crow hunched over Seto's agonized form on a screen above it.

"Did you get this boy's blood scanned?"

"No."

"Tell me, 364… Why are they so injured?"

"Why wouldn't they be? You ordered us to kill them, correct?"

"You _idiot!" _the first snapped. "I ordered you to find the one with the right blood!"

"I'm quite certain you-"

"Are you questioning me, 364?"

"No, sir, not at all. My apologies."

"Now go make sure the fourth remembers we need them _alive… _For now, that is. We have to find their base and put the plan into action!"

"Of course, sir."

"Sir!" a third cried.

"What is it, 218?" the first asked after shooing off 364.

"We've got some readings on the scanner where there's a lot of biological life concentrated in a single area!"

"Very well done, 218. You haven't failed me yet," the first said, pleased. "Where is it?"

"The hotel."

"Ah. I should have known… Of course they congregate in a place with food, water, and shelter…" it growled, angry at itself. "Very well. 218… You have proven yourself trustworthy. I have a mission for you."

"Yes, sir?"

"The other drones are clearly not programmed very well, and I fear they may kill the one whose blood we need. You are to infiltrate the hotel. Now, because you have to imitate a human, I'm going to have to lower your physical abilities quite a bit…"

"Have me… Imitate a human, sir?"

"Yes, 218. I need you to imitate a human, find out more about why Crow is doing what he is, find the one whose blood we need, capture him or her, and while you're at it… Convert Crow to our side at all costs."

"Understood, sir… But how am I to maintain this illusion? I've no idea how to imitate a person."

"I will install text-based memories into your system. Act based on those, but don't forget that they are simply artificial, and do not let it hinder your mission. I will begin your operation an hour from now. In the meantime, please go tell 364 to meet me in the lab."

218 nodded, but then paused for a moment. "If I might ask… Why, sir?"

"I could use more parts."

"Yes. Of course, sir."

* * *

**A/N**

**Told you it was short. Hardly any longer than the (rather long) opening author's note. XD Anyway, tell me what you think. Next chapter will be long again, I promise! Like I said, this is short for a reason! It's more of an ominous mini-chapter that gives you some information about the upcoming plot than an actual chapter.**

**364: So I get taken apart for spare parts?**

**It's heavily implied.**

**364: I only got a couple of lines! This sucks!**

**Merchant: Tell me about it.**


	8. Infiltration

**A/N**

**Bet you're all wondering what the evil plot is, huh? Well, too bad. I'm not telling! Not until we get there.**

**Crow: I'll give you a cookie to spoil it!**

**Must… Resist… -twitch- Virtual… Cookie… Anyway, sorry this update took so long. I took a break the other day because I have, well, a life outside this fanfiction. XD Oh, and I was trying to draw Crow and Seto… Don't bother, unless you're a good artist. They're really hard. Seto, you have to many fancy buckles and things. Crow, you… You're just a mish mosh of random trinkets. Really, guys.**

**Seto: Unlike manga, you don't need to redraw three-dimensional characters, which is probably why you had trouble… Mangakas usually keep the designs simple so they can draw the character panel after panel.**

**Don't try to 'reason' your way out of this one!**

**Seto: I'm only explaining that-**

**Insert interrupting statement here!**

**Seto: But-**

**I said, INSERT INTERRUPTING STATEMENT HERE! Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

**

* * *

**

"I think we should re-think this," Seto said the moment Crow finished.

"What? We leave, we attract their attention, capture them without killing it, and force it to lead us back to its creator! Where's the problem?"

Seto took a deep breath. "I really, really don't mean to offend you or anything, but, umm… They're robots, Seto. And let me finish before you interrupt, because what I'm trying to say is that they're not dolls like you. They're pretty clearly programmed to blindly obey orders, more like a computer than anything else… And right now, those orders are to kill us."

Crow opened his mouth as if to disagree, only to close it again. "Alright, you've made your point. What's your idea, then, genius?" Defeated, he folded his arms and leaned back against the stack of pillows behind him.

"What if we try surrendering?"

At that, the doll snorted. "Surrender? Didn't you just point out that doing that sort of stuff would get us killed?"

"Well…"

"What is it with you and trying not to fight?" Crow continued. "You've come this far fighting, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but that's no reason not to try and make peace! What if the person who made them is friendly?"

Crow just stared at him. "A friendly person is going to make robots that are bent on killing us all?"

"Maybe not. What if it isn't a person making these at all, though? What if they're just left over from Glass Cage? They keep talking about 'threats to the project,' after all."

Crow scratched his head. "They're too organized. Besides, you'd think that if they were from Glass Cage, they'd try to shut the power back off."

"They're robots; they need that power. Maybe they're waiting until after they kill us all."

The doll laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Us. We're talking about giant robots trying to kill us in a calm, composed manner. It's just… Kind of funny, you know? I mean, it's like a sci-fi, almost."

"Sci-fi?" Seto repeated.

"What? Confused?"

"What's a sci-fi?"

Crow's face immediately became serious. "Since when were you the one asking stupid questions?"

"The old man I lived with never talked about this kind of stuff."

"You keep talking about this old man you lived with. Did he ever take you anywhere?"

"Not really. In fact, before Glass Cage, I never wandered far from home."

"Ever?"

"No."

"Did he?"

"Sometimes he went out for food, but he never told me where, and never let me out of the house when I was alone. It was a big place, so I had room to move and stuff, but the world is different than what I thought. I didn't know too much about robots before now," Seto replied.

"You really have lived a sheltered life, huh?"

"Sheltered?"

Crow sighed. "A sci-fi is a story that involves science fiction; in other words, a bunch of stuff involving science that either doesn't exist yet, can't exist, or a story involving advanced technology… I think. Definitions aren't my strong suit. You'd have to ask PF about that."

"Oh."

There was a brief silence.

"You know what?" Crow said, looking at the ceiling. "I need to charge, and you need to sleep. We'll be able to think better in the morning, when we have more energy, alright?"

"Yeah," Seto agreed, nodding. "Good night, Crow."

"Good night," Crow responded, kissing Seto on the cheek.

"One more question, Crow."

"Yeah?"

"Your kiss with Yuki… Was it… Good?" He turned a little red.

"You still upset about that?" Crow asked, scratching the back of his head. "Of course not. His lips taste like old tuna." Teasingly, he added, "But then again, so do yours."

"That's not funny, Crow."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Umm…"

"Yeah?"

"Please… Please, promise me you'll never do it again."

"Do what?"

"Kiss anyone else."

"I promise," Crow said. "Now come on, it's high time we got some sleep."

* * *

"Ren, you should stay in bed!" Seto insisted, worried.

"I'm fine! It's already almost healed, anyway," Ren replied, eating pieces of dry cereal. "Crow, can you pass the water bottle?"

The doll pushed it over. "So, PF, looking at the maps, what do you say we should do?"

"Send another search party to the library," she replied, whirring. "Go a little deeper into the city, too… Do we have enough people for that?"

"We sure do," Yuki replied enthusiastically. "I could go all day!"

"Didn't you take the night watch?" Seto asked, noticing the bags under Yuki's eyes. "You should sleep."

"I don't need to sleep! I'm a man, I can take… It…" he murmured, trailing off, eyes closing. Suddenly, they shot back open. "Yeah! I can do it!"

"You look like you're going to collapse any second!" Kikyo replied, only for him to drop then and there.

"I'll do it," Crow said with a sigh, getting up before anyone could say a word. "I seem to have become the designated person-carrier. Between Seto, Ren, and now this guy…"

"If it's that much of a problem, I could probably lift him," Kikyo replied, and attempted to do just that, only to lose her balance, Yuki's weight causing her to topple over and fall to the ground.

Crow laughed. "Now _that… _That more than makes up for it," he snorted, helping Kikyo to her feet and picking Yuki up off the ground.

"I feel useless…" Seto mumbled, rubbing his legs. "How much longer until they're healed?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just a couple more days," Ren replied.

"They feel fine now."

"You're on pain medication; everything feels fine when you're on pain medication."

"Oh! That reminds me…" Seto said, thinking of the night before. "Those robots… Do you think they're looking for Crow and I?"

"I don't know," Ren replied, shaking her head. "It sounded like the might have been, but it might be something else entirely. I'm not psychic; it didn't give up any important information. Why?"

"Crow and I were talking last night. If they're looking for us… Should we give ourselves up?"

"Of course not!" Ren replied immediately.

"But then, wouldn't it be a little selfish if we stayed?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Ren asked. "If you two give yourselves up, the enemy _wins! _They obviously want you for a reason, if you two are what they really are looking for, and they're not afraid to kill us. It's pretty obvious that once it has you, it will use you to kill off the rest of us, somehow. We're _all _safer if you two stay here."

Seto frowned. "I didn't think about it that way before."

Ren smiled back a little. "It's noble of you, but noble isn't always the right way to go about things. We have to slow down and consider all of our decisions carefully."

"I'm back; Sleepy is snoring away in bed," Crow said, walking back into the room. "So, am I staying with Seto today, or am I going out with you guys?"

"You-" Seto began.

"-are staying with Seto," Ren decided before Seto could say a word. "We need someone to stay here with a defensive team at the ready."

"But last time, Toshi used that as an excuse to do all sorts of stupid tests while you were gone," Crow complained. "Not that I want to leave Seto," he added quickly, "but can you take Toshi with you?"

"Toshi's busy making his prototype defensive bot. Come on, Crow, don't you want to do the noble thing?" Ren asked, eyes narrowing.

"Ah, of course," Crow said immediately, looking away. "Whatever you say. Just… Please stop looking at me like that."

"Didn't you just say the noble thing isn't alw-" Seto began, biting his lip and stopping when Ren turned her head towards him.

* * *

"I swear, I don't know why I can't stand up to that _look!" _Crow growled, sitting on a couch next to Seto in the lobby and watching the kids running around. "I mean, what's she gonna do? She wouldn't attack me or anything; that's just not Ren. But really, something about it just-"

The doorbell rang.

"That was fast," Seto said, unable to help but feel a small sense of relief that Crow had been interrupted.

"Why ring the doorbell? They know the door is unlocked," Crow said, getting up and going to the door, Seto following close behind. He opened it up. "Oh! Uh… Hello."

A person they'd never seen before stood before them. "Hello!" the person greeted merrily. "I heard on the radio that there were people here!"

"You seem awfully cheerful for someone who made it here on your own," Crow remarked, stepping back and allowing the stranger to come inside.

"Oh, umm…"

"You're confident. That's a good trait to have!" Crow interrupted, smiling at him.

"It's great to meet you, umm," Seto began.

"My name is Ume," the plum-haired boy replied. "And you?"

"I'm Seto," Seto said brightly. "This is Crow."

"Seto and Crow? I'll remember that," Ume said, nodding. "Umm, Crow… You're an android, correct?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Crow responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, just double-checking. It was just a guess, really, because, well, you're… You know. Anyway… Do you guys have any food?"

"Of course we do!" Seto replied, nodding. "This way!"

* * *

"Sir, 218 has successfully infiltrated the human dwelling."

"Good. I made sure to log the plan in his memory; he is to sample blood until he finds the one we're looking for."

"What about Crow, One?"

"What of Crow, indeed…" The one known as One scratched his chin, eyes narrowing. "Crow is an android. If he refuses to play by our rules of his own free will, we'll wipe his hard drive and bring him to our side by force."

"What will we do with the human when we find the right one?"

"I haven't decided yet," One replied, thinking. "I could simply kill it once it's served our purpose, but what fun would that be? No, I want vengeance for my enslavement. We could kill the other humans before it and _then _kill it… But death would be too merciful still. I think I shall keep it as my plaything. I want it to suffer until the end. No other punishment will do."

"But sir, isn't that dangerous?"

"I don't care if it's dangerous!" One spat. "They will all pay for what they've done to me! Oh, if only father, mother, and brother were still alive… I wish I could make them suffer for the web of lies and deceit they wove around me! This one human will have to do, though." One paced back and forth. "How I long to see the look on its face when it knows what I have to tell it… How many lies its been fed. It will be more miserable than I, of that I will make sure!"

"Sir, perhaps you should sit down…"

"Shut _up! _Shut up, shut up, shut up!" One barked, taking a nearby piece of equipment and smashing it against the ground in front of the one with whom it was speaking. "You obey my orders, do you hear me? Do you _want_ to end up like 364?"

"No, sir!" it said quickly, shaking its head. "My apologies, sir!"

"Very good. You're dismissed."

"Sir?"

"I said you're dismissed!"

"Yes, of course, sir!"

* * *

"Welcome home, everyone!" Seto greeted as the search party came in alone.

"We didn't find anyone. We're going to search even deeper into the city tomorrow, but there wasn't anything today," Ren said with a sigh.

"Any more of those robots?" Crow asked.

"Surprisingly, no," Ren replied.

"Robots?" Ume replied innocently, trying to find out more.

"Yeah. They've been terrorizing us for the past few days," Ren replied, sitting down. "It's exhausting, being on the lookout for them all the time."

"What kind of a robot?" Ume asked.

"Big, hulking, and scary ones, that's what!" Crow said, lifting his arms over his head to imitate a monster. "You don't want to get caught alone with one of those things. That's why Seto's in a wheelchair now. Of course… If he weren't so impulsive-"

"I shouldn't have jumped, I know!" Seto groaned. "I get it already!"

"Will you be alright?" Ume continued to inquire.

"The doctor said it'd heal. Four more days, I think it was."

"That's good," Ume said instinctively.

"Are you going to eat, or what, Ume? You haven't touched your food," Seto pointed out.

"Ah, right." He stared at the food, and glanced at the other people eating, before slowly picking up the chopsticks beside him. "I… Yeah."  
"Come on, it's old, but it's not _that _bad," Crow laughed. "Certainly better than starving."

Ume nodded and laughed nervously, fiddling with the chopsticks, as if trying to figure out how they worked.

"Are you feeling sick?" Ren asked.

"Umm, yeah, a little," Ume replied, holding his stomach. "I don't think I can eat tonight."

"We have a doctor; do you want to talk to him?" Ren stood up, putting a hand against his forehead to check his temperature.

"No, really, I'm fine. I think it's just something I ate when I was on my own. I'll be fine tomorrow morning, I swear!" Ume reassured her.

"Alright, then," Ren conceded. "But tell us if you need anything, alright? We're all we've got, after all."

Ume nodded. "I feel a bit tired…"

"We could all get some sleep. Let's wake the night watch, first," Seto said, wheeling himself off to the elevator.

"Ah, wait up, Seto!" Crow said, following him. "You're getting pretty fast in that thing!"

"They seem close," Ume remarked.

"They're lovers!" Ren giggled in reply.

"Lovers?" Ume repeated. "That's… Nice."

The word was not in his vocabulary.

* * *

"Lovers," Ume murmured to himself, flipping through the dictionary. "I have to find out what that means… One will kill me if I don't get this right…" He brushed his new hair out of his face, trying not to panic. "Ah, 'lovers.' 'Either of the two people involved in a love affair.' What's a love affair?" He looked around, trying to make sure the night watch didn't catch him out of bed that late. " 'Lover… One who loves another, especially one who feels sexual love.' 'Lovers…' 'A couple in love with another.' Okay, so… What's love? 'Love…' 'A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person…' Shit." Such a thing would make converting Crow… Difficult.

There was a knock on the door. "Is someone in there?" a young voice called.

Ume remained silent, shut the book, shelved it, and looked for a place to hide.

Too late, the door opened. "Oh, hey, what are you doing up so late?" a blonde boy asked him.

"Umm, reading."

"Oh. Are you that Ume person? I'm Yuki," Yuki greeted. "Man, I wish I had your energy. How do you stay up so late without getting tired?"

"I… Umm… I don't know."

"Stop saying 'umm,' it's annoying," Yuki said, holding out his hand. "While you're up, why don't you help me keep a lookout? Or would you rather go back to bed?"

"Ah, sure, I'll help," Ume said, knowing full well the search would end up with nothing of consequence. "So, what are we looking for, again?" However, he had to make sure nobody got suspicious.

"Those giant robots. They didn't bother us today, from what Seto told me, but you never know." Yuki bit into a bagel and walked down the stairs. "We don't really have to actively search; we're just keeping a lookout to make sure they don't catch us off guard and that we can wake the others if something happens. Basically, we just have to stay awake at night. It's kind of weird, though, eating lunch at twelve o'clock midnight." He laughed. "I feel like an owl, or something."

"Mmhmm."

"So, what were you reading, anyway?"

Ume paused. "I was reading… The dictionary."

"The dictionary? That's boring; nothing worth staying up over," Yuki said, frowning. "It wasn't even a novel?"

"No."

"Well, what word were you looking up?"

"Nothing in particular, I was just reading. I want to… Enhance my vocabulary," Ume excused himself, cursing the fact that he clearly wasn't sounding like your average human.

"That's good, but really dull."

Wanting to change the subject, Ume asked, "Is that a cross on your neck?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Are you religious?"

"Well… Kind of," Yuki replied, holding it. "I don't know anymore. Part of me wants to keep believing, but what merciful God would let so many people die?" He sighed. "I don't know, what do you think?"

"I don't believe in a deity," Ume said automatically, thinking about his words only after he spoke them, and cursing himself for saying too much. "I mean…"

"It doesn't matter. Can't say I really blame you," Yuki said, almost disappointed. "Did you ever think that maybe… If God does exist… That He just doesn't care about us anymore?"

"I haven't really given too much thought to the subject."

"You haven't, huh? Well… Ouch!" Yuki grunted as he scraped his arm against the wall, of which a pointed piece of wood was sticking out of. "We've got to get that fixed…" He took a bandage out of his pocket and placed it on the bleeding cut.

Not wanting to miss his chance, Ume immediately touched the blood on the wood.

"What are you doing?" Yuki asked.

"Cleaning it up," Ume replied, wiping it off with his hand. "Where's the bathroom?"

"There's a public one that way," Yuki replied, pointing. "I'll wait outside."

"Thanks."

Upon entering the room, Ume touched his tongue to the blood, and waited a few seconds to get a result.

Negative. Yuki was not the one he was looking for.

* * *

"Ah, good morning, Crow," Ume greeted.

"Good morning, Ume," Crow replied as they met in the deserted hallway, the night watch going to bed and everyone else still waking up.

"Where's Seto?"

"He insisted on getting himself dressed this morning," Crow replied, stretching.

"You're very beautiful for an android."

Crow's arms fell to his side, and he just gave Ume a look. "Okay, one, that's kind of random, and two, if you're going to compliment me, use a more masculine term."

"Ah, sorry." He knew he had to ask it soon, and decided it may as well have been then. "Crow… Why are you siding with the humans, instead of the robots?"

"Why not?" Crow replied, shrugging. "I happen to like you guys better."

"But why, specifically?"

"Well… Humans are interesting," Crow began, giving it some thought. "While some of you are stupid, you generally have some sort of idea in your heads as to what you want to do, rather than listening to orders all the time…"

"Can't other dolls do the same?"

"Eh, maybe, but in the end, those dolls are still pretty mindless, especially because of that virus."

"Aren't you a doll, though?"

"Hm, well, yeah, but…" Crow sighed. "I guess the main reason I like humans better than the robots running around today is because they're… Compassionate. There are compassionate robots, sure, but most of them are happy to tear apart whatever's in their way at the moment. I really wish… And don't repeat this in front of anyone, because it's incredibly cheesy… I just wish we could all get along, humans and robots. Just like before this whole fiasco with Glass Cage and all that."

"Humans and robots never got along before. Humans enslaved robots."

"Humans are stupid," Crow replied, putting a hand on his hip. "They've enslaved other humans in the past, too." He looked at Ume. "Maybe it's just Seto's influence talking, but if everything gets back to normal, I think we'll be able to live together as equals. Well, the dolls and humans, I mean. Obviously, technology that isn't conscious hardly counts. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Ume said, nodding. "So… You aren't resentful at all?"

"I've got nothing to resent. Besides, my lover is a human," Crow laughed. "For him, I'd forgive anything anyone did to me."

Ume continued to nod, and walked downstairs. "I'm getting breakfast," he said, waving. "Later."

"I'm waiting for Seto. We'll be down in a couple minutes, 'kay?"

"Got it." Ume sighed when he was out of earshot. They had no choice. Crow would have to be reprogrammed; he was too far gone. However, that could wait. First, he needed to find the blood he was there for.

* * *

Ume let out a growl of frustration that night. He'd been searching all day, with no luck. Everyone within the age group One had specified turned up negative. Meiko; negative. Kikyo; negative. Not one of them had what he needed.

"Something wrong, Ume?" Seto asked, rolling his wheelchair over.

"I lost something. I'm looking for it," Ume replied to explain why he was on the floor, on his knees.

"Oh. Well, could I help?"

"You couldn't get low enough in that wheelchair."

"Oh…" Seto said, disappointed. "Well, I'll be fine the day after tomorrow. Then I can be useful again."

"Shouldn't Crow be with you?"

"I snuck out on my own."

Somewhat impressed, Ume asked, "On your own? Even with both your legs broken?"

"It was hard, but I need a break from Crow. Don't get me wrong, I love him, but… When you're with someone at all times of the day, for a couple of days, it can get pretty grating, no matter who it is."

"Well, even married couples need time away from each other."

"Exactly."

Ume continued making as if to search.

"What are you looking for, anyway?"

"My… Ring. I dropped it."

"I didn't see you wearing a ring earlier."

"I don't usually wear it."

"Oh. Like the one Crow gave me!" Seto chirped, holding up his locket.

"Crow gave you a ring?"  
"Yeah," Seto replied, holding up the ring with the silver skull. "I don't wear it because of all the stuff we do. I don't want to lose it."

Ume nodded as Seto put it away, only to pinch his finger between the sides of the locket when he shut it. "Ouch," he murmured, blood running down his finger. "That was stupid."

"Oh, let me get it," Ume said immediately, taking a tissue from the box in the lobby and wiping it off and wondering if he should bother. "Just let me throw this out. There's a trash can in the bathroom, right?"

"Right."

The boy was too frail to have it. Ume touched the blood to his tongue.

_Positive._

At that moment, he knew he had to separate Crow and Seto at all costs.

* * *

**A/N**

**Now it's getting interesting, right? Just wait until the next chapter. It's gonna get a bit dark, if all goes according to plan.**

**Seto: What the hell is going on?**

**No spoilers! I've been resisting!**

**Crow: -waves cookie in front of Klei's face-**

**DANG IT, I WILL RESIST! -slaps cookie away-**


	9. Capture

**A/N**

**Finally, we can figure some of this stuff out!**

**Crow: Or, you could just tell us… -holds up cookie-**

**-steals cookie from Crow- HA! Take that!**

**Crow: Damn karma!**

**Oh, and because the chapter gets a little dark at the end, no author's note will be present at the end of this story. Comic relief would kill the mood. When I say dark, I mean it. I swear, not even I saw this coming until I started writing the chapter before this and the idea got into my head. (You'll see what I mean when you get there. Don't scroll down and spoil it for yourself, it'll ruin everything!) Oh, and sorry if you don't get the little riddle near the end. For those of you confused, I'll explain it in the next chapter's author's note. It isn't the end all and be all if you don't get it, anyway, namely because it's only their for a demonstration of the evil dude's personality.  


* * *

**

"Good morning, Crow!" Ume greeted pleasantly. "Ren told me to tell you that she's taken a search party out to the city."

"Ah, yeah, Seto will be out in just a seco-"

Crow was interrupted as Ume's lips crashed into his just as the door opened a second time.

"W-what?" Seto stuttered, eyes widening.

Crow shoved Ume off. "What the hell? Get off of me!"

"What are you talking about? You were the one who started it," Ume said, feigning confusion.

"You _promised!" _Seto cried, shaking his head.

"Eh? Wait, Seto, he's lying!"

Too late; Seto had already gone off to the elevators, hurt.

"Damn it! What the fuck was that for? You _know _we're together!" Crow said angrily, glaring at Ume.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"Go explain that to him, bastard!" Crow snapped, and ran after Seto. "Wait, Seto, please, let me explain!"

"That was… Surprisingly easy," Ume said to himself. "Humans are so gullible."

* * *

"What is there to explain?" Seto asked, choosing not to look Crow in the eyes. "You… You promised before that you wouldn't…"

"I swear, Seto, he just kissed me out of nowhere!"

"But he knows we're lovers! Why would he do that?" Seto turned to Crow. "Why would _you _do that?"

"That's just it; I wouldn't! Come on, Seto, please!" Crow pleaded. "You have to trust me, I didn't start it!"

Set looked away again.

"Seto… Have I ever, ever given a reason for you not to trust me?"

"No… You haven't. Not until now." Seto looked at his feet. "Please… I just want to be alone for a little while."

"I can see this is an awkward moment," Ume said from behind them. "Umm, Crow, why don't you go to the library or something? I'll take care of Seto while you're gone."

"Why, you…" Crow growled, glaring at Ume, but then turning back to Seto and calming down. "Fine. But you'd _better _tell him the truth!" he snapped, furious at the individual before him.

"Of course, Crow. Goodbye," Ume said, and Crow left, still fuming.

"Ume, tell me the truth," Seto said slowly, looking up at him. "Who started that kiss?"

"The truth, huh?" Ume repeated, taking the handles of Seto's wheelchair. "Why don't we go outside, huh? To the back of the hotel, where the pool is…"

Figuring Ume had something to say that he didn't want the others to hear, Seto nodded.

The moment they were outside and out of sight and earshot of the others, Ume replied.

"The truth, Seto," he said quietly. "The truth is… I did it. And you want to know what else?"

Seto looked up at the boy, feeling guilty about how he had treated Crow. "What else is there?"

Ume leaned over and whispered the next few words in his ear. "I'm. Not. Human."

"Wh-" Before he could respond, Seto found himself knocked out.

"Perfect," Ume said, taking a cellphone out of his bag and dialing a number. "I have the human you wanted. Oh, and Crow is at the library, or should be soon, if he isn't already. You can capture him now."

* * *

"Damn it, Seto's probably furious," Crow sighed, kicking the leg of the library table. "That Ume bastard… I can't believe he did that! He's probably going to tell Seto a bunch of lies while I'm gone! Man, what the hell possessed him to do that, anyway?" He frowned. "And what's with Seto? The way he's been acting lately, it's like he… Like he doesn't want to spend any time with me anymore."

That's when a book title caught his eye.

" 'Rekindling the Fires of Love?' " he read out out, sliding it off the shelf. "Weird title, but it has 'love' in it. Maybe this will help?"  
He looked at the back.

_"Is your budding romance off to a slow start?" _the text said.

"Umm, yes, I guess."

_"This step-by-step guide will get you back on track!"_

"Hm." He put it in his bag. "I'll have to read this later… For now, I should probably go back and make sure Ume hasn't been telling Seto anything stupid…"

An arm smashed through the wall.

"Shit, bad timing," Crow murmured, eyes widening when a second burst through. "Two?"

A third followed, along with a fourth.

"This is bad…" Crow said slowly. "Very, very bad."

_"Crow!" _one addressed, but it wasn't robotic. Rather, it was very clear, like someone talking into a microphone and through a speaker.

"What of it?" Crow snapped.

_"Surrender yourself!"_

"Like hell I will!"

_"We have Seto."_

"What?"

_"Put your hands in the air and do not resist if you don't want your lover hurt," _the voice cooed, and a hologram of an unconscious Seto was briefly flashed before him.

"Damn it… How'd you get Seto?" Crow growled.

_"That is none of your concern. Surrender."_

Seeing he had no choice, Crow lifted his arms above his head. "Ren and the others will come looking for us!"

_"They will never find you."_

He found himself knocked to the ground by one of the metallic arms, the compartment where his batteries were kept opened, and a wire plugged in. Suddenly, all began to fade to black, his limbs not working. "Wha… Why can't I… Move?"

_"I know all your weaknesses, Crow. After all… I was the one who built you."_

Everything went dark.

* * *

"Hey."

Silence.

"Hey!"

More silence.

"Wake up already, Seto!"

"Huh? Whaa?" Seto murmured, slowly opening his eyes, though everything was still blurry.

"218 must have hit you hard. You've been out since yesterday."

"Who are you?"

"Your legs are better by now, so that's good."

"But who _are _you?"

"Who am I, you ask?"

Seto rubbed his eyes. The person in front of him was sitting down, knees brought up to his chest and arms wrapped around them. He wore a very simply outfit, and nothing about him seemed particularly off… Until Seto noticed that one of his arms was clearly metal. The torn look of the skin on that arms shoulder made it clear that the metal continued on inside. "You're a… Doll?"

"My name is Ichimaru. Tell me Seto, did Crow ever tell you what he learned about our origins?"

"Yes, he told me the same day Toshi told him."

"Hm. So you'll understand what I mean when I tell you this," Ichimaru said, and Seto was beginning to notice other little details that were off about him. For one, he seemed extremely young… Two, both of his eyes were catlike, the same as Crow's, but gold instead of green. "I am the first doll."

"The first?" Seto repeated, eyes widening. "You mean…"

"After I was found to be able to make my own decisions, the person whom I loved like my father immediately gave me up for testing." Ichimaru clenched his fist. "They made more copies of me. They experimented on those copies. They put skin on me, made me look more human, but they always gave us these ears and eyes. Always, so they would be able to tell at a glance that we were different. So they could tell who it was that were the slaves." He slowly got to his feet. "You humans abused us. You did all sorts of cruel things to see what made us tick. My family… Those traitors. But they're humans, too, after all… I was glad to see them go during Glass Cage…"

Seto stood up and stepped back. Ichimaru's rambling was beginning to unnerve him. "We're not all like that!"

"That's what I thought, too!" Ichimaru snapped. "That's why when Shin told me he'd help me get revenge, I listened to him. But no… He was just the same. The moment I pledged my allegiance to his cause, I was no more than a slave to him, too!"

"But that's just Shin! Please, you have to listen to me!"

"Very well, I'm listening."

Seto got down on his knees. "I'm sorry… I really am sorry about what happened to you. Please, forgive us for what we did. It was horrible, but…"

"But what?" Ichimaru laughed. "You're apologizing now because I've captured you. With a word, I could have you killed. Or, I could simply do it myself." He lifted Seto to his feet; only when he found himself helpless to escape the bot's death-grip did the brunette truly remember that Ichimaru was a prototype war-drone. Quickly, Seto scanned the room for anything that he could potentially use as a weapon, but there was nothing.

"These hands of yours…" Ichimaru said, eyes bright and childlike as he gently took Seto's hands. "You've fought many battles with these."

"Y-yes."

"These hands… With these hands, my kind suffered constant abuse," Ichimaru added, his tone becoming sad. "That was really mean, you know."

Crow's description of this robot rang through Seto's head.

_"And would you believe that he was raised like a human child?"_

"So, with these hands," Ichimaru said, letting go of Seto and raising his own hands. "I will return the favor." He drew back, and the brunette braced himself for what was clearly a punch.

"STOP!" a voice cried from across the room.

"Ah, Crow!" Ichimaru chirped. "You've finally decided to wake up and join us!"

"Don't hurt him!" Crow growled. "Or I'll kill you!"

"What are you doing, making threats?" Ichimaru chided. "You can't even move as you are now."

"Damn it…" Crow growled, looking up to see that not only was he chained up, but there was no feeling in his arms and legs, seemingly because of the cord plugged into him.

"Crow!" Seto gasped, running over to the other boy and hugging him. "I'm so glad you're alright! You are okay, right? Oh, please tell me you're okay!"

"I'm fine, really," Crow laughed a little. "Not still mad about that thing with Ume, are you?"

"I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! This is all my fault!" Seto said, hugging Crow even tighter. "I love you, Crow!"

"Aww!" Ichimaru cooed sarcastically. "How cute! Psh."

"What are you keeping us here for?" Crow demanded.

"It's really quite simple. You both have something I want," Ichimaru replied, not seeming to mind the questions. "Crow… You were the first doll I ever built; I did it secretly, before Shin commenced Glass Cage. I didn't base you on myself; far from it. I wanted to create something different, my own little toy. I was naïve then. I wanted to see why humans felt the way they did about dolls." Ichimaru sighed. "One day, I had to hide you, still turned off, from Shin. I don't know who did it, but someone found you and took you away… They put a battery inside you, and that's probably who that person in that photograph keepsake of yours is. I didn't think too much of it, though… I figured my creation would soon learn what I learned; that humans are foul creatures. How was I to know you would be stupid enough to fall in love with this boy?" He shrugged.

"So I wasn't just hearing things. It really was you who made me…" Crow said slowly.

"Don't listen to him!" Seto insisted. "You're a good person, Crow! It doesn't matter what you were made for! You have to choose your own path!"

"As for Seto," Ichimaru continued casually. "I can't have anybody else getting your blood when I do Glass Cage over again."

"My… Blood?" Seto repeated.

"I already have copies of the data from Ren's DNA, so it will be quite simple to-"

"What are you talking about?" Seto asked, thoroughly confused.

"Sheesh, do I have to explain _everything?" _Ichimaru asked, rolling his eyes. "The original catalyst, Ren, had a rare mutation in her body; when her blood was combined with a certain chemical, it became toxic to everything and everyone who ingested it… Or, as Shin discovered, inhaled it in gas form. Once released, it spread the air like wildfire, as long as it had a host to reside in. In a single day, it was all over the world. That rare gene is the requirement to be a catalyst. Ren, luckily for Shin, just so happened to have the same gene. In fact, it's highly probable the two were distantly related."

"What does this have to do with Seto?" Crow asked.

"Seto's blood contains something else entirely," Ichimaru replied in a bored tone. "Didn't you ever wonder why the old man you lived with kept giving you shots when you were little, Seto?"

"They were because I was really sickly when I was little!" Seto replied immediately.

"Stupid. You were adopted for the soul purpose of countering what most of the Glass Cage team already suspected Shin was up to!" Ichimaru chimed merrily. "Ever since you were little, that old man injected small amounts of a dead form of the gene into your body, slowly building up a complete immunity to it. That's why you lived. Your blood was then drawn and injected into as many people as was possible the day before the experiment, shipped all over the planet to be replicated for each government to give to its citizens, under the guise that it would help them prepare for Glass Cage; they still believed it to be a godsend in the art of communication. Every single person alive today had some form of your blood injected into them, Seto. Your life was just as much used as a tool as mine. You were just too dumb to realize it!"

Seto's jaw dropped. "That's… That's not true! Grandpa… Would never do that!"

"Oh, really? This is his handwriting, right? This completely and utterly unaltered journal," Ichimaru replied, mock-sighing and tossing it over to the boy, who opened it up immediately.

_Day 1_

_We've successfully secured the child we need. He's young enough to adapt to the injections, and his blood type is O. Name, Seto. We will start the injection series tomorrow._

_Day 2_

_ Seto took well to the first injection; I didn't tell him what it really was. I don't want to scare the poor kid. The second injection will be next week. We have to take it slowly, and make sure he can take it._

_Day 8_

_ So far, no particularly negative reactions, though he does seem a bit sickly lately. He was fine after a little rest, though. I hope so; we can't just take a bunch of children and begin mass experimentation. If the media realized what we're doing, we'd be damned in the eyes of every respectable person out there. Perhaps rightfully so. Seto seems to be getting used to his new home. Hopefully he won't mind this second needle. He cried the last time._

_Day 15_

_ Seto seems as healthy as ever now. He isn't reacting negatively to the injections anymore. Let's hope that means it's working. I almost wish I could take him somewhere. The poor kid won't ever know a normal life. Maybe, when this is all over… If it works… I'll take him to the park._

_Day 18_

_ I'm not supposed to get attached to this kid. We're just supposed to make sure he grows immune to the virus. It's kind of hard, though. Just today we were out in the yard… He took a rock and ran up to me, as if expecting some kind of congratulatory statement. It was just a rock, but… I couldn't disappoint the kid, so I gave him a pat on the head. I hope this doesn't mean he'll bring more home from here on out._

_Day 22_

_ Seto still doesn't like the injections. Can't say I blame him. Needles are never a fun ordeal when you're young. He didn't cry this time, though. I'm almost a little guilty. The last time he cried, I got mad at him. I hope that's not why he didn't do it this time around. This is already child abuse as it is. I have to make sure this works. I want this boy to live a normal life when Shin's plan fails. I can give him up to a pair of parents who'll love him more than I ever could._

_Day 24_

_ If I were truly a good person, I'd kill Shin and let my own life be ruined for it instead of ruining the life of this child._

_Day 29_

_ I went out and bought some ice cream for Seto after giving him today's injection. He seems to like it. It's been forever since I've had ice cream. It was interesting, eating it again. The kid got whipped cream all over his face. Was I ever like that? It's hard to remember life from back then._

Seto shakily flipped to the end of the journal.

_Day 1804_

_ Shin has perfected his chemical. Today I took a blood sample from Seto; it'll be replicated and shipped out tomorrow. I hope it's not too late. The cure will only last a day or so for people for whom it wasn't incubated in, but a day is all we need. When it runs out of hosts it can live in, it will die immediately. That poor Sai girl, though… I feel sorry for her, but her case is hopeless. Even if we could sneak her an injection, the fact that her blood carries the gene would cause her body to reject it._

_Day 1805_

_ I have to leave Seto a note. They could only save so many people; the blood didn't replicate as fast as we'd hoped. Maybe the countries outside of Japan had better luck with it. I wish them all well. There's not even enough left for most of the team to take… We prioritized doctors, and made sure at least one technician got it; Tashi? Tushi? I can't remember his name; we just had to make sure there was at least one technologically gifted individual who lived. At least then the remainder of humanity won't end up in the stone age._

_Day 1806_

_ I left Seto a note telling him to go to the east, to the red tower… I'm pretty sure that's where the survivors will gather. Oh, Seto, please be alright. You should have had a normal life… I'm sorry._

_Day 1807_

_ Today's the day. Tomorrow I won't wake up. I have… So many regrets. But, I suppose that's my punishment for the sins I've committed. I wonder… Do the ends justify the means by which I have ensured humanity continues on? Or did God intend to smite us all?_

There was no more after that.

"So now you know!" Ichimaru said merrily. "Knowledge is power, after all! Or, in your case, not so much."

"You're wrong…" Seto breathed, hugging the journal tight. "He did care about me."

"He used you to incubate a cure! You've served his purpose. Well, for now. No one is getting your blood this time."

"Seto, don't listen to him," Crow said. "You know what you read. He regretted it every day."

"I know," Seto said, nodding and closing his eyes.

"Aww, this is so boring!" Ichimaru complained. "You two are too depressing to play with!"

"Play? This isn't a game! You're trying to kill everyone!" Crow growled.

"No matter. I'll make you both my toys," Ichimaru said happily. "Lights!"

The room lit up to reveal at least a dozen monitors on one wall, each showing what seemed to be a different section of the base. Beneath them, a large panel with a series of buttons. "What is this?" Seto asked, thoroughly confused.

"I want you to play with me!" Ichimaru replied, pointing to the buttons. "See those buttons? One of them will undo the lock of that plug in Crow's back, and one of them will wipe his memory so he'll be mine again! The other is a dud. You can only pick one!" He giggled. "This is fun!"

"This most certainly is not fun!" Crow snapped.

"How am I supposed to know which one is which?" Seto asked, horrified.

"Aww, I'll give you a hint," Ichimaru said, pouting. "It's shiny!"

"They're _all _shiny!" Crow spat.

"It's the shiniest!" Ichimaru replied, crossing his arms.

Seto looked over the buttons. _Shiny, shiny… There's got to be more to it than that._

"You're taking too long," Ichimaru muttered, pulling a strange electronic device from his pocket.

"A handheld game?" Crow said, not believing his eyes. "You're playing a video game _now?"_

"My Pokemon still have to beat the Elite Four!" Ichimaru excused himself.

"Pokemon?" Crow repeated, blinking. "I've heard of that before…"

"What button is the shiniest?" Seto asked himself, looking over the panel and noticing one was a different color from the rest. "Hey, this one's blue, not red like the others…"

"Pokemon… Shiny Pokemon are…" He thought back to the game he had found lying on the ground next to a corpse one day, still with enough battery to work for a little while... How he'd continued playing it until it died, just because there was nothing else to do... "Differently colored from the rest, right? Seto, press that blue button!" Crow told him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

Seto nodded and pressed it.

Both froze when Ichimaru laughed.

"I said it was the shiniest, but I never said which button I was referring to! I win!" Ichimaru squealed joyfully, putting his game away. "The shiny button erases Crow's memories!"

"No!" Seto cried, running over to Crow and trying to unplug him.

"S-seto…" Crow stuttered. "I… What…"

"NO! You can't forget, Crow!" Seto insisted, tears streaming down his face. "Not again! I can't lose you again! I love you! I love you, I love you, I love you!" He hugged the doll tightly. "Please don't forget, Crow! Please! You can't, you can't!"

"Se- Seto… I… Love you…" Crow murmured, eyes fading. "Se-"

He stopped, and his eyes returned to their normal state.

"Crow?" Seto addressed hopefully.

"All threats to the project," Crow said, "must be eliminated."

"No…" Seto whispered. "Crow! CROW!"

"That was a fun game!" Ichimaru laughed.

"Turn him back to normal!" Seto growled, turning to face Ichimaru, his sadness changing to anger. "Change him back _now!"_

"Too late. His memory is wiped. The Crow you know doesn't even exist anymore. Every bit of data, coverted to 0's and 1's, then erased from existence, like they never happened!"

"No…" Seto said weakly. "Crow… This isn't happening…"

"What, do you need proof?" Ichimaru asked, hitting a button that released Crow from the wire plugged into him. "Crow, hit him."

Seto turned around, eyes widening when the doll's fist slammed into his face. He fell to the floor. "N-no… Crow, please…"

"Kick him," Ichimaru said, putting his hands on his hips. Wordlessly, Crow obeyed, kicking Seto in the stomach.

"AH!" Seto gasped, coughing. "Please, Crow!"

"You're stupid. Crow's my toy now," Ichimaru said, kneeling down beside Seto. "You're both my toys."

"You're wrong," Seto replied, wiping the blood from his lip that dripped from the wound caused by Crow's punch. "Crow…"

"Is there no proving it to you? Hm. Fine. Crow," Ichimaru addressed.

"Yes, sir?"

Ichimaru grinned. "Rape this boy."


	10. Innocent, Not So Innocent

**A/N**

**Five bucks to anyone who saw THAT coming last chapter.**

**Seto: …**

**For those who don't understand Ichimaru's name, "ichi" is "one" in Japanese, and "maru" is a common ending to male names. Together, you get a name that means "one," but is a name at the same time. Anyway, sorry to keep you waiting for this next chapter. But hey, it's not like I left you with any horrifying cliffhangers, right?**

**Seto: Actually-**

**You're not in a position to question me. Heh, would you guys believe me if I admitted I waited a long time intentionally, just to screw with your heads? 'cause that's honestly the reason this chapter took so much longer than usual. Funny story there, too. See, you'll probably notice that it's a tad shorter than usual. See, I went to bed, planning to finish it in the morning one day, only to forget it was still unfinished the next day. So I waited a little bit, went to publish, and… "SHIT! It's still not done!" So yeah, sorry guys. Next chapter will be out soon, I promise. My plan was screwed up by my own incompetence. Enjoy anyway! Oh, and because I kind of rushed this out the door in an "oh shit get this the hell published already" moment, the quality might be a little low, because I haven't yet re-read and obsessively fixed things. But hey, the grammar is pretty decent for something that hasn't had a beta, and the plot is advanced, right?

* * *

**

"Wh-what?" Seto said slowly, eyes widening with horror.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Ichimaru asked, sitting back casually.

"Rape, sir?" Crow asked, blinking.

"Yes. Go on, what are you waiting for?"

"No, Crow! You can't!" Seto squeaked, sitting up and backing away.

"Very well. I will do as instructed," Crow said, nodding towards Ichimaru and approaching Seto.

"Stop! No, stop it!" Seto pleaded, back pressed against the wall. _Weapon, weapon… I need something to defend myself with… But… Then I'd hurt Crow… _"Crow, please, don't!"

"Conflicting orders," Crow said.

"Don't listen to him," Ichimaru said, waving his metal hand. "You only obey me."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't! Crow!"

Crow pinned Seto to the ground.

"STOP, CROW!"

* * *

"Sorry we took so long!" Ren said, laughing as she entered the building with a group of survivors. "We spent the night there because of someone's injury, but we're back now!"

"Great, now help us search!" Yuki said, panicked.

"What?"

"Seto, Crow, and Ume have all gone missing!"

"What?" she gasped.

"They disappeared the other day, but nobody noticed until nighttime! They haven't come back yet!"  
"Do you know the last place they were?"

"I heard what seemed like an argument outside right after I went to bed to get ready for the next night shift, but I didn't think to much of it until I woke up, and now they're all _gone, _Ren!"

She put a hand to her chin, trying to think without losing her head like the others. "Let's take this slowly. Where could they possibly be?"

"Being eaten by vultures somewhere obscure!" Yuki responded.

Kikyo turned green at the thought. "That's disgusting, Yuki!"

"Don't lose your heads! We have to think about what we're doing!" Ren said loudly, shutting them both up.

"Hey!" someone called. "We found a wheelchair out back!"

"Seto's?" Ren repeated, running over to the one he rolled in. "Where was it?"

"Near the pool, in a spot out of earshot and out of sight."

"Okay, someone must have carried Seto off… But what about Ume and Crow?"

"Odds are, they were taken, too," Yuki said, distressed. "Now what do we do?"

Ren touched the chair. "Hang on. I think I might be able to get a general location if…" She picked up a piece of brown hair on the back of the seat. "Perfect."

* * *

Desperate, Seto tried pushing Crow off, to no avail; Ichimaru was holding his arms down. _This is… Not happening._

"Ahaha!" Ichimaru laughed, finally letting go. "Stop it, Crow, I was just messing with him."

"Yes, sir."

"You're… Really gullible," Ichimaru snorted, while Seto just continued to lay down, his panicked breaths slowly going back to normal.

"That's not the kind of thing you joke about!" Seto said angrily, trying to get up.

"What? You didn't like my little demonstration? Crow is mine now! So are you!" Ichimaru giggled. "Now both of you, come on! I want to plaaaaaay!"

"Wh-what?" Seto said slowly as Crow helped him to his feet and immediately went to follow Ichimaru. "W-wait, Crow!"

Before he knew it, Ichimaru turned around and gave Seto a light shove. "Tag! You're it!"

"What the hell?" Seto gasped, confused. _I don't normally swear… But this is ridiculous! However… _He looked at his empty, weaponless hands. _I've got no way to defend myself… _"Crow?"

Crow shrugged. "You heard him. You're it."

"Please remember, Crow!" Seto said softly, trying to hug the boy.

With that, Crow backflipped out of the way. "You can't catch me!"

Seto dropped to his knees. "You really don't remember!" he said, trembling.

"Hey, hey, get up and play with me!" Ichimaru complained, strolling back. "Bad toy!"

"I'm not a toy!" Seto hissed. "And neither is Crow!"

"Hmph!" Ichimaru responded, kicking Seto lightly. "Why won't you play with me?"

"After all you've done?" Seto asked hoarsely. "You've _killed _people! You killed Crow!"

"Seto is stupid! Crow is right there, see?" Ichimaru said, pointing to Crow. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Oh, _I _get it! We're playing pretend!"

"We are _not _playing!"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! We have to play! I told you to!"

"You're just a brat!"

Ichimaru was visually taken aback. "You _will _play with me!" he snapped, quickly becoming hostile and grabbing Seto by the jacket. "Now!"

"Never!"

The doll sighed. "Puh-leeeeease?"

"Murderer!"

Crow knelt beside the two. "Seto is biological. Maybe that's why?" he suggested.

"Ah, that must be it!" Ichimaru agreed.

"That has absolutely nothing to do with it!" Seto responded, infuriated. "You're-"

"Shut up. Let's play 'doctor' now," Ichimaru decided, grabbing Seto's hair. "You don't want to play because you can't keep up, right? An operation can fix that."

"Wait, no! You're not going to-"

He was knocked unconscious.

* * *

"Oww," Seto murmured, opening his eyes. "Huh?"

"The patient is ready!" Ichimaru chirped, taking a knife in his hands.

Seto's eyes widened. "Hey, wait a minute!" he cried, tugging at the restraints on his arms that kept him from getting off the table. A quick glance around revealed a myriad of scattered objects that looked like limbs, but he quickly realized they were robotic parts. "Are those…"

"Spare parts! Sometimes I take apart my toys and make new ones!"

"B-but… That's…" _Killing them!_

"What? Sometimes they bore me after awhile," Ichimaru replied, putting the knife down and using a marker to draw a line on Seto's arm, near the shoulder.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Fixing you. Humans are so poorly put together. When you build new ones, they're always weak and helpless. You call them "babies," I think. But don't worry! I can change that!"

"But I want to keep my arm!" Seto said, horrified.

"Well, that's stupid. Why keep something when you can upgrade it?"

"Because it's mine!"

"But the new one will be yours, too."

"It's not the same!"

"Stop being dumb. Of course it's not the same!"

He was getting desperate. "But… If you replace my limbs, I could get away, couldn't I?"

"Heh, what do you take me for? An idiot? I can always shut them off; you'd be even more helpless than before, if that's possible."

"I-"

Ichumaru took Seto's neck in his hand and pressed lightly. "Now listen. You're my toy. You have to do what I say!"

Set pulled at the metal cuff around his other hand. "Where's Crow?"

"Is that all? He's outside. This won't take long. We'll be able to play tag soon!"

With that, Seto finally managed to squeeze his hand out of the cuff and tried to use it to hit Ichimaru in the face, only for the doll to catch it with his free hand, eyes darkening.

"You tried to hit me."

"You're a killer!"

The doll squeezed the hand that was around Seto's neck hard. "You think you're some kind of hot-shot? You're just one human." Meanwhile, the brunette opened his mouth, trying to breathe. "And I can kill you." With the other hand, he twisted Seto's wrist, causing the aforementioned boy to let out a choked cry. "But then again, you're just the same as those other humans, and they were also stupid. Maybe I'm expecting too much of you." He slammed the boy's hand back down on the table. "Maybe I should kill the others. You'd listen to me then, wouldn't you?"

"No!" Seto exclaimed the moment Ichimaru removed his hand from his throat.

"That's right, you forgot, didn't you? With one order from me, I can have all the remaining people in the world destroyed… And this time, it'll be for good."

"Please, don't!"

"Then shut up and let me finish this!" Ichimaru replied, locking Seto's wrist back into place. He picked up a knife. "Ah, that's right, you can't turn off the nerves in your arm, can you? What do you humans do to numb it? The last thing I need is you struggling and messing me up!"

Seto swallowed. "Umm…"

"Spit it out, or I'll have to do this without it!"

"A-anesthesia…"

"Right!" Ichimaru said, looking around. "Aww, I don't keep any of that around here, do I? That's too bad for right now. I'll send a drone out to get some. For now, though, it looks like you'll be stuck with the limbs you have now."

As the doll washed the marker off his skin, Seto breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

* * *

"Let's play a board game this time!" Ichimaru declared. "That way Seto can keep up… Kind of. Come on! I have some in my room!"

Seto blinked. "Board games?"

Upon reaching it, it turned out to be… Surprisingly colorful. There was a box off to the side that Ichimaru opened up and looked through. "Let's play Candyland!"

The brunette looked at the box. "For ages six and up," he read out loud. "Umm…"

"What? Is Seto too little?" Ichimaru asked.

"Of course not!"

"Then we can play! I know Crow is old enough! I built him several years before Glass Cage actually took place," Ichimaru chirped. "Anyway, the trail is a bunch of colored spaces! You draw a card, and whatever color the box on that card is, you go to the first space that matches! So if I draw yellow, I go to the first yellow space after the one I'm currently on! Get it? Unless you draw one of the cards with two boxes. Then you go to the second space of the same color as the one you have. Okay?"

"What about these spaces?" Crow asked, pointing to a space with a picture on it.

"Oh, if you draw a character card, you go directly to that space, even if it takes you backwards. So if I draw the peanut brittle card, I go to the peanut brittle space!"

_This is a little kid's game, _Seto knew immediately, but decided to say nothing.

"I go first! Then Crow, then Seto!" Ichimaru decided, picking up a red piece. "Crow, you're yellow. Seto, you be blue."

"Yes, sir."

"Umm, okay…"

Ichimaru drew a card. "Two greens! Lucky!" he said brightly, moving the piece to the second green space.

Crow picked one up. "One red."

Shakily, Seto picked up a card when Ichimaru turned to look at him. "Umm… The Ice Cream Queen?" he said, revealing the character card, and looking at the board. The ice cream space was close to the finish line.

"Character cards don't work on the first turn!" Ichimaru said, frowning.

Upon hearing this, Crow glanced at the rules. "Umm, sir, there's nothing in the rules about tha-"

Seto flinched as Ichimaru punched Crow in the face. "Crow!"

"I _said _they don't _work _on the first turn!"

"Yes, of course, sir."

There was a knock on the door.

"I got it!" Ichimaru said, running over. "Yes, 162?"

The skinless bot quickly whispered something into Ichimaru's ear.

"Well, deal with it, then!" Ichimaru replied simply.

"How so, sir?" Its voice was filled with static.

"Send a drone in."

"Yes, sir."

"Is something wrong with him?" Seto asked cautiously.

"I didn't upgrade his vocals yet. Old dolls used to have terrible voice quality," Ichimaru explained. "The software that allows our tone to change with our mood and what-not is complex. Before, it tended to sound like that."

"Oh."

As Ichimaru went to sit down again, Seto instinctively reached for Crow's hand and took it.

"Umm…" Crow began, unsure if he should allow it.

"Oh, let him. His whining gets on my nerves."

* * *

"I win!" Ichimaru said for the fifth time.

_Never mind that you've been cheating the whole time, _Seto thought, but decided to keep quiet.

"So," he said cheerfully, "what do you want to play, Seto?"

Seto remained quiet.

Ichimaru poked him on the forehead a couple times. "Seto? Seeeeetooooooo!" He thought for a moment. "Oh, I know! You're hungry! I'll get snacks! Both of you stay! Crow, make sure he doesn't leave!"

"Yes, sir."

"Good!" With that, Ichimaru ran off.

"I want to go home…" Seto said, quivering.

"Silly, this is home!" Crow replied.

"No, it isn't!" Seto whimpered, trying not to cry. He leaned into Crow's arms. "Ren… And Toshi, and Kikyo… What about Yuki? You two never did get along…"

"Ah, perhaps you could use some rest, Seto…"

"I don't need rest! I want Crow back!"

"I am Crow!"

"I want the _real _Crow back, damn it!" he cried. "I want the person I love back!"

"Does not compute."

Seto grabbed Crow's shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

"What was that?" Crow asked, tilting his head to the side when Seto pulled away.

"A kiss," Seto hiccupped. "You used to like them."

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Yuki complained.

"Shut the hell up!" Ren ordered. "Seto, Crow, and Ume's lives could be at stake!"

"We don't even know where they went!" Kikyo pointed out as they walked through the field. "There were no signs of any drones."

"Is it possible a human kidnapped them?" Meiko asked.

"No, I would have felt their presence leftover. Come to think of it… I've never been close enough to Ume to feel any sort of presence, and there wasn't any trace of it leftover at the hotel…" Ren said, eyes narrowing as she thought.

"Hey, wait a minute… Has anyone ever seen Ume eat?" Kikyo asked, putting a finger on her lips. "He said he was sick the first time, and every time after that he just said he ate really fast, before anyone else could get there…"

"Or sleep, for that matter," Yuki added.

"You don't think…" Meiko began.

"That Ume might be an android?" Ren finished for her. "We've got no way to know for sure, but don't discount the possibility."

"What if they're dead?" Kikyo said, worried.

"They're not dead, I'd know if they were!" Ren replied.

"Do you think we're close?" Meiko asked.

A robotic arm shot out of the ground.

"I think that means 'yes,' " Yuki said, holding up his golf club.

* * *

"Ah, sir?" a bot addressed.

"Yes?" Ichimaru asked on his way back to his room, holding a bowl of fruit.

"The drone you asked us to send out has come into contact with the humans searching for Crow and Seto."

"Good."

"What shall we do with them?"

"What do you think?" Ichimaru asked, putting a hand on his hip. "They're interrupting my fun!"

"So…"

"Kill them," Ichimaru replied simply.

"What shall we do with the bodies?"

"Hm, wait, hang on! Don't kill them!" Ichimaru said, changing his mind. "Not yet. Capture them. Send out four more drones to that location to make sure they're successfully detained."

"What do you plan to do with them, sir?"

"He's my toy now, but… I did promise I'd make him suffer, did I not?" Ichimaru said, smiling. "Humans have the strangest kink in their programming. In most cases, it's so much easier to make them suffer by hurting the people they care about than it is to make them suffer by hurting them themselves. I want Seto to see me destroy them."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, by the way, tell Ume to put a blanket in Seto's room. And a pillow. And some bread and water. Just in case he gets hungry."

"If I might be so bold as to ask why, sir?"

"I don't want him to die. Speaking of which, make sure there's a guard there. One who doesn't have to sleep to charge. Someone to escort him to the bathroom and make sure he doesn't try to escape, or commit suicide. Hmm, how about Ume?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"This is boring!" Ichimaru announced. "Crow, you go charge. I want to play with Seto alone!"

"Yes, sir."

Seto looked at Ichimaru. "What are you doing?"

"Play with me. I want to play…" Ichimaru began, thinking. "Chess!"

Memories of a game he played and always lost at with the old man he used to live with rushed back to Seto. "Chess?"

"Yeah!" Ichimaru said, already setting up the board. "You can even be white! White goes first in this game!"

"Alright…" Seto agreed quietly, trying to remember how the pieces moved. Slowly, he pushed a pawn forward. The doll immediately countered by moving a pawn of his own.

He moved out his knight. The doll moved another pawn.

Seto thought for a minute, and moved his knight to take Ichimaru's pawn. Said doll proceeded to take the knight with another pawn.

"Man, you really suck at this," Ichimaru remarked.

"What are you talking about? We both lost a piece."

"A knight is worth waaaaaay more than a pawn!"

"But they're all chess pieces. Why can't they be equal?"

"Knights are more powerful. Pawns suck," Ichimaru said simply.

"They all play a roll!"

"You're right, and pawns play the roll of taking up space."

"That's not true!"

The game lasted only ten more minutes before Ichimaru took Seto's king. "Stupid. You can't beat a supercomputer!" the doll giggled. "I'm superior in all ways. I'm stronger, faster, and smarter!"

Seto found himself unable to argue those points. "You don't have sympathy."

"Sympathy? Why should I feel bad for other things?" Ichimaru asked, genuinely confused. "That's stupid. Name one thing 'sympathy' has helped you with."

The brunette looked up from the game. "If nobody ever felt for anyone but themselves, there would be no friends in the world."

"Friends? I don't need friends, I have toys!" Ichimaru replied, laughing.

* * *

"Alright, that's that!" Yuki gasped, taking a deep breath after the bot was finally taken down. "I'm exhausted!"

"It can't get any worse though, right?" Meiko asked, relieved.

"Don't say that!" Kikyo insisted. "Then it will!"

"What? This isn't a movie; that stuff never happens in real li-"

Several more robotic arms shot out of the ground.

"At least _now _it can't get any-" Meiko began hesitantly, only for a bolt of thunder to make itself known, and for rain to start falling.

_"Don't!" _Yuki growled, covering her mouth before she could say it again.

* * *

**A/N**

**And they all lived happily ever afte- oh, wait, what do you mean the story isn't over yet? Right… See you next chapter!**


	11. Let's Play Operation

**A/N**

**I have returned, with a chapter! Yay! Good news, Seto.**

**Seto: What?**

**A lot of people were actually _disappointed _that you didn't get raped!**

**Seto: THE HELL?**

**Oh, uh, sorry, I meant "bad news." Yeah. (Can't say I blame you guys; I was exceptionally evil there, in that I didn't do it after all. Heh.)**

**Seto: You people are all sick!**

**I prefer the term 'superior lifeform,' myself.**

**Seto: Excuse me while I get the hell out of here. Psychos…**

**Come on! It isn't like you're really ali-**  
** Crow: -taps foot- Ahem?**

**I'll be quiet now. Anyway, fear not, everyone! I suddenly got my inspiration back about halfway through this chapter listening to some depressing music. I absolutely cannot write without music. It's the strangest thing. It just blocks out the world around be and lets me focus on the story alone. Basically, my personal muse just refuses to come to work unless I've got something playing in the background. I hope this chapter makes up for it, at least somewhat. Feels like it loses something now, though…**

**Seto: What? What loses something?**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Seto: Don't cut to the story without answering my que-

* * *

**

"Do you have any twos?" Ichimaru asked brightly.

"I just asked you if you had any twos a turn ago," Seto said, frowning as he surrendered the card.

"No you didn't."

By then, Seto knew it wasn't worth arguing the point. "Where's Crow?"

"Why do you still want to play with Crow? He's my toy now, remember?"

Seto bit his lip; all day he'd been trying to stop thinking about it. _Crow would want me to be stronger…_

"Alright, I'm bored," Ichimaru said, frowning. "I wonder if they brought the anesthesia back yet… Speaking of which, I have to practice!"

"Practice?" Seto repeated, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh, nothing!" Ichimaru chirped, and led Seto out of the room. "Anyway, Ume will lead you to your room! Ume!" he called, and the one who had captured Seto quickly ran up to them. "Take Seto to his room."

"You!" Seto said, clenching his teeth.

"I only do as I'm ordered," Ume responded flatly, taking the boy by the wrist and yanking him off.

Ichimaru quickly went to the nearest doll and said, "Hey, I need you to find a stray human. Any will do; just make sure it'll be easy to capture, and is healthy enough to go on living. In fact, why don't you collect a couple of them?"

"The reason being, sir?"

"I've never tried hooking up bionic parts to humans before. I don't want to cripple my new toy, so some practice is in order, don't you think?"

"We still haven't located anesthesia, though, sir."

"Pfft, they'll get over it. Hm… I wonder if humans react with empathy towards strangers. That's another interesting experiment to try!"

* * *

"Hey," Ume called to Seto from the doorway. "Ichimaru wants to see you."

"I don't care," Seto replied, sitting in a corner and sulking. "I'm staying here."

"I can't let you stay here."

Ume proceeded to grab Seto by the hair and yanked, but though his eyes watered, the brunette stayed put.

"Where's Crow?" he asked calmly.

"None of your concern," Ume replied.

"I have to know…" Seto replied, practically rocking back and forth. _Be strong, Seto… But it's so hard to be strong…_

During his time locked up in that room, the full force of the day's events had truly hit him. Crow… Crow was gone forever.

"Why?"

"I forgot to tell him something important," Seto responded.

"Get up; you're beginning to sound more robotic than most of the others here."

"No."

"For the love of…" Ume grumbled. Ichimaru would not be happy if he returned without Seto… But then again, he had never expressly stated how he had wanted the boy delivered. "If I get Crow, will you come with me?"

"Yes."

"Fine, then." With a sigh, Ume shut and re-locked the door, going off to find the circus-dressed doll. "Hmph… It's all about Crow, huh?" He ground his teeth together. "I'm still useful… A hell of a lot more useful than that guy. I'm more smarter, more efficient, and I didn't have to be brainwashed or scared into my loyalty! And now, not only is Ichimaru all over Crow, but the human?"

Still grumbling to himself, he continued his search.

* * *

"This is where we drop you off," Ume said, leading Seto to a door. "Through this door, go down down the hallway, and enter the one at the end."

"Alright…" Seto said, slowly letting go of Crow's hand. "Goodbye, Crow."

There was no response.

Seto shut the door gently behind him and began walking down the hallway. _What is it he wants to see me for? And… What are in these other rooms? _Looking around to make sure he wasn't being watched, he tried a few, only to find out that all of them were locked.

Finally, he opened the door at the end of the hall, eyes widening at the sight before him. It was… The same room Ichimaru had initially intended to 'operate' on him in.

But there was another victim on the table.

"Welcome, Seto," Ichimaru greeted, ignoring the desperate screaming of the child on the table.

"What… What are you doing?" Seto asked, jaw dropping.

"Practicing. I don't want to mess up when I get to you," Ichimaru replied casually. "I just thought having you watch would be an educational experience."

"What?" Seto said, stepping back. "No! Leave that boy alone!"

"Something wrong? I even went through the trouble of finding someone you don't know."

"That doesn't make a difference!" Seto replied, horrified. "A person is a person!"

"Hm? Am I a person, Seto? Was Crow a person?"

"Of course!"

"Then tell me, Seto, would you kill me if you had the chance?" Ichimaru asked, interested. "Be honest."

Seto hesitated, but admitted, "Yes."

"That's funny. What makes me less of a person than everyone else?"

"Because you're a bad person! You've…" He didn't want to scare the kid by saying, 'murdered.'

"Is that so? You seem so quick to pass judgement. Tell me, what gives you that right?" Ichimaru asked, cleaning his knife. "The right to judge others? How are you to know that what I'm doing is bad? You've no proof. What is right, and what is wrong… What do you humans base that on, besides what can harm you personally and what can't? So selfish," he giggled.

Seto shook his head. "It's not selfish! Please!" he said, walking closer. "Please… Just don't hurt that boy! He's not involved in this!"

"Why shouldn't I hurt him?"

"Hurt me instead!" Seto insisted. "Please… I'll do anything, just leave him alone!"

"Again, one must ask… _Why? _Why are you worried about seeing him hurt? It's not you, after all."

"That doesn't-"

"You don't want to see him hurt because it hurts _you. _If it didn't hurt you emotionally to see him hurt, you'd do nothing; I know, for I've read about these 'mental disorders' in which people don't. If you were a selfless species, it wouldn't matter whether or not it hurts you emotionally."

"It's the fact that a person _allows _it to hurt them emotionally that it's not selfish!" Seto replied. "Let him go!"

"Hm. So if you wanted, you could just… Stop caring? Just like that?" Ichimaru asked, frowning. "Fine." He handed Seto the knife. "You kill him."

"Wh-what? No!"

"Very well. Until you can spontaneously stop caring, my point that you just blindly obey your programming is proven. You humans have no more free will than we do. You just pretend to," Ichimaru sighed, reaching for the knife. "It was an interesting debate, to say the least, I suppose…"

Seto clutched the knife. _I'm not letting him do this!_

He leapt on Ichimaru and attempted to plunge the blade into his head. _I've done this lots of times before… There's no denying that if he keeps living, more people, both dolls and people alike, are going to die._

"Idiot," Ichimaru said, kicking Seto off and easily wrestling the knife from the boy's hands. "Did you forget already? I'm a supercomputer in a doll's body. A doll that was the prototype for a _war drone._ My strength and reaction time is hundreds of times better than yours."

"I won't let you hurt that boy!" Seto responded, trying to get Ichimaru off.

"Hold him," Ichimaru said, and the arms of a drone shot over and held Seto's arms behind his back.

"Let me go!"

"You'd screw me up," Ichimaru responded, going back to the table. By then, the child was sobbing. "Let's begin, then, hm?"

"DON'T DO IT!" Seto cried.

Ichimaru smirked at him, and brought down the blade, slicing through the child's arm. This, in turn, caused the boy to let out an ear-splitting screech.

"STOP IT, ICHIMARU! PLEASE!" the brunette pleaded, tears welling up in his eyes. _This is too cruel! Just… Too cruel!_

"Almost got it," Ichimaru said, wiping blood off his face and sawing his way through the bone. "There!" From there, he pulled the arm completely free, blood spilling out onto the table. The sight of his dismembered arm only served to make the child scream more. "Aww, shut up, will you?"

"Stop it, Ichimaru!" Seto said again, weakly, feeling sick. "Please!"

Ichimaru spent several more minutes connecting what was left of the child's arm to the electronic one in his hands. "There! Can you move it?"

Still in pain, the child simply screamed, but the metal arm clenched into a fist, signifying that it worked.

"Well, glad to see that worked out!" Ichimaru said cheerfully, and Seto breathed a sigh of relief, still horrified, but glad it was over.

"Let him go," Seto said quietly.

"Now? That wouldn't be any fun," Ichimaru replied, shrugging, and picking the knife back up.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Seto asked, jaw dropping. "Don't do that again! Let him go!"

"Oh, I won't do it again," Ichimaru responded. "He's of no more use to me."

"Then what-"

Seto's eyes widened as Ichimaru plunged the blade into the boy's chest. The child let out one last strangled cry.

Desperate, Seto looked at the boy, hopeful to see any signs of life… Any signs that Ichimaru was just messing with him. _He's not… Moving anymore…_

"Devices with no more purpose must be shut down," Ichimaru replied, drawing the knife back out of the child's heart. "You humans seem so keen to do that to us. What makes you so special?"

"You… You killed him!" Seto wailed. "You killed him! Oh my God, you killed him!"

"Yeah, I killed him. No need to repeat it nine thousand times," Ichimaru replied, shrugging.

"You're a monster!"

"Hmph. If I had stabbed another doll, would you have cared?"

"Yes!" Seto replied through tears. "You're a horrible person! The world isn't your toy! You think you're a genius, but you _aren't! _You… You idiot! You stupid, fucking idiot!"

" 'Stupid idiot' is a redundant phrase," Ichimaru said simply. He looked up at the drone. "Escort him back outside while I get rid of the body."

The drone complied and dragged the brunette out of the room, making sure he didn't go back. The moment he was free, Seto ran over to Crow and hugged him.

"E-eh? What are you doing?" Crow asked.

"Make it stop!" Seto whimpered, sobbing. "Make it stop already!"

"What exactly happened?" Crow asked Ume.

"I'm not of the rank to say," the plum-haired boy responded.

* * *

**A/N**

** I'm sorry you waited so long for something so short! T-T See, I'm going to be going on vacation for a week, so what with the packing, it's been kind of busy. Sorry again. Plus, not too long after I get BACK, I'm gonna go for another THREE weeks for other stuff regarding college and what-not. (I'm not failing, or anything; it's hard to explain.) I should be able to write more shortly after I get back, though. Sorry again, everyone. It really is disappointing. I'll try to get back to updating fast as soon as it's all over, though. Again, my apologies!  
**


	12. Ume

**A/N**

**Klei: Hello, hello, hello! I'm so very sorry it's taken this long! I just recently came out of the longest bit of writer's block I've ever had in my life. I know, I know, excuses are bad, but at least it's over now, right? I'm sorry to anyone who might have given up on this story. I swear that I'm gonna finish it, so don't worry about it getting abandoned. The hiatus it's been on has ended, so… Yeah. Sorry about that. Please forgive me, I am but a humble idiot!  
**

**Crow: Jesus Christ, finally! I thought you'd forgotten about us, what with your new obsession with Hetali-**

**Klei: NOBODY NEED KNOW ABOUT THAT! -gags Crow-**

**Seto: Hetali-what?**

**Klei: Hetalia, of course! I- oh, crap.**

**Crow: -rips out gag- Owned. X3

* * *

**

"Hey, Seto," Ichimaru called into the room in a sing-song voice. "Play with me!"

The brunette was quivering against the wall, arms wrapped around his knees.

"Are you cold? You have a blanket," Ichimaru said, tilting his head to the side as if he wasn't aware of what he had done just a half an hour earlier.

"St-stay away from me!"

"You're weird, you know," Ichimaru said, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it. The 'click' echoed throughout the room, only serving to further inflate the bubble of hopelessness in Seto's chest. "Crow told me you keep hugging him. What is it you and him share?"

"Nothing anymore…"

Ichimaru leaned forward, arms crossed over his chest. "Hm. Humans are weird."

Seto didn't bother responding, opting to simply stare at the floor.

"I mean," Ichimaru continued, oblivious to the brunette's depression, "why hug him? If you're cold, it's not going to help. I've had him shut off his internal heating system; I don't see why he's had it on lately. You don't need it this time of year. He's not warm anymore."

Shaking his head, Seto hiccupped, doing his best not to cry. "That's not the point."

"Then why?" Ichimaru insisted, eyes narrowing. "Tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Because…" Seto said quietly, clenching his teeth. "I love Crow."

Rather than upset the doll before him, the answer only seemed to disappoint Ichimaru. "Love is a human program."

"You're wrong," Seto responded, shaking his head and swallowing. "It's something any person can feel… No matter what they're made of." Chapped lips quivering, he finally brought his head up to meet the other's gaze.

The doll rolled his eyes. "Listen to me; I was the one who put Crow together, and-"

"No!" Seto snapped, launching himself to his feet. _"You _listen! _You fucking listen!_ People don't have to be what they were brought into the world for! Crow wasn't, and still isn't, anything like you! Let alone whatever you envisioned! Crow is… Crow is a good person!" He didn't know when his voice had become a scream, but it didn't particularly matter. The only thing he felt at that point in time was a blazing hatred. A loathing of everything about the boy before him.

The doll was undaunted. "You're stupid. Wasn't that demonstration from before enough? He would rape you, if I so ordered," Ichimaru said, frowning. "What will it take for you understand?"

"Have him kill me." The words were instantaneous. Daring.

"Aww, come on, you know I can't do that!" Ichimaru insisted. "Because he'd totally do it, and I don't want my toy dead. Then you won't be as fun to play with!"

Seto snarled, all reservations gone. He was far past his breaking point. "I'm not your toy!"

"Yes you are!" Ichimaru said, voice raising and getting a little more irritated.

The brunette felt his body shaking, not entirely sure himself whether it was fear or rage… Or a mixture of both. "I'm not your toy, and the world is _not _your plaything! And you…" Seto said, hands turning to fists. "You're not above anyone else!"

Ichimaru slapped him across the face, stunning the boy and practically knocking him over. "Shut _up, _Ume!" he snapped.

There was a brief pause.

"Ume?" Seto repeated, holding the spot that had been struck and standing up straight once more.

"I… I mean…" Ichimaru began, realizing his mistake. Finally, he just slammed his fist into the wall, cracking it. "Just shut up! _Shut up!"_

"What-"

"I'm in charge!" the doll barked, grabbing Seto by the hair and repeatedly slamming his head against the wall. "Why won't you do what I say? I'm stronger! I'm smarter! Why don't you _obey me?" _His grip tightened. "I am _perfect!"_

Dazed from the impact, Seto collapsed, vision blurred with a mixture of tears and blood that had started to pour from the wound on his head. Everything was so light he felt he would float up into the air at any moment, yet so heavy he couldn't even lift a finger. He heard the slam of a door, Ichimaru appearing to have left. The brunette groaned and slowly dragged a hand to his head, wincing as he felt a notable depression. A concussion… You weren't supposed to sleep with one, right? That much he knew from what his old man had said…

Knowledge of that didn't stop the darkness from overtaking him.

* * *

Seto woke up to Crow's face. For a moment, he was relieved; had it all just been a terrible dream? The relief drained away once he noticed the horrible pain in his head, crying out when the doll above him touched it. "S-stop that, it hurts!"

Crow shook his head. "Please relax. I will fix this in a moment."

Wincing slightly, Seto's face darkened. He wanted to tell Crow not to bother. Just _let him die _already. His lover was a hollow shell of himself, a psychopath was trying to erase what was left of humanity from existence, his head hurt like nothing else, and he didn't have anything to defend himself with. But he couldn't. He still had people to live for. Ren, and all the others… He couldn't let them die. "Did Ichimaru order you to do this?"

"That is correct," he droned. "One hour has passed since you fell unconscious. To prevent brain damage, you must be woken up periodically."

The doll's eyes, once vibrant and energetic, had noticeably faded. There was no life in them anymore as he fixed the brunette's broken skull.

"Come back."

Crow looked back down at his face. "What?"

"Come back," Seto repeated, his throat sore and voice hollow. "I love you. Please."

Tilting his head to the side, Crow asked, "What is love? Please define the term. It is not registered in my internal dictionary."

The brunette's lip trembled, and he smiled sadly up at the bot. "It didn't work. I knew it wouldn't work. I just had to try."

"Love…" the doll began. "Means something didn't work?" When Seto didn't respond, he continued. "Contextually speaking, that means you have just told me that either you or I do not work. Seeing as I work fine, I must assume you mean yourself."

Everything faded to black again.

* * *

"What the hell?" Yuki screamed. "Where are they all coming from?"

Ren shot another down. "Hell if I know!" Her usually relaxed demeanor was being pushed to the limits as they took down bot after bot. It was raining, cold, and the ground was slippery. Not only that, but the machines continued on coming, despite her and her companion's exhaustion. No good… If they didn't get away, they were all _dead…_

"Need any help?" a voice called from behind them.

The silver-haired girl whipped herself around, eyes widening as she saw another bot. Larger, though, and with a man riding on top. "Toshi!"

Hope returned to them as Toshi and his creation plowed through their foes.

* * *

The second time he woke up, he saw Ume's plum-colored eyes staring back at him. "What are you doing here?" Seto rasped. "Where's Crow?"

Ume shook his head and glared at the brunette. "What does it matter? He's no different than I am," the doll responded, shoving what appeared to be pills into Seto's mouth.

Forced to swallow due to the hand over his mouth, the brunette shook his head. "No, you're different," he said when Ume let go. "You're a monster."

The doll's eyes narrowed. "I recognize that."

"Wh-what?" The answer took Seto aback.

"I said I recognize that I'm a monster," Ume replied, looking away. "I've killed people. They weren't human, but those dolls were sentient. They were my brothers and sisters. I kill anyone he tells me to. I became a monster for _him."_

Trying to remain conscious, Seto couldn't help but ask, "Why? Why do you still fight for him? You can stop any time you want."

Ume laughed. "So quick to forgive me, Seto. Tell me, if I told you the people I killed had been human, would you have given me that response?"

It was Seto's turn to glare. "I never said that. I know you're a person, and I know there's good in you… But I don't forgive you."

The doll smirked. "Smart boy. You've learned a lot since you came here. In honor of such an achievement, I think you deserve a little more information."

Seto blinked. "Wh-what information?"

Sitting down on the hard surface the brunette had been lying down on, Ume began to talk. "Well, let's start with me, hm? Where to begin… I owe Ichimaru my life." At the confused look Seto gave him, he continued. "I was dying when he found me, out of battery and missing several limbs. Ichimaru put me back together, and from then on I've been his right-hand, as you humans call it." The plum-haired bot sighed. "I've always been loyal to him. When he needs a repair, I'm the only one he trusts to do it for him. When he needed someone stolen away…"

"You were the one he sent to do it," Seto finished for him. "And what about Ichimaru?"

"So nosy!" Ume chided. "But I'll answer anyway. Ichimaru… He was a prototype war drone, and the first actual _doll, _as I'm sure you've heard."

He would have nodded, but his head hurt too much to do so. Instead, Seto simply voiced his "Yes." Crow had told him about the first doll, and he'd put the pieces together from there.

"His family," Ume continued, "That is, the family of the man he was assigned to… They loved him like their own child, and he loved them in return. Especially his precious, precious older brother… His beloved Ume."

Seto's eyes widened. "But… But that means…"

"Settle down, I'm getting to that," Ume cut him off. "Ichimaru loved Ume. Practically worshipped the ground the boy walked on. Ume was perfect, Ume was noble, Ume was everything Ichimaru aspired to be. But Ume hated Ichimaru." Frowning, he went on. "Because Ume thought Ichimaru was perfect. Too perfect. Because dolls don't usually have to try to understand or do anything, especially not Ichimaru. He was strong, he could answer the most complex of equations at insane speeds, and once he got some cosmetic upgrades, he was _beautiful…" _Seto couldn't help but notice the way Ume almost dreamily sighed at that word. "Ume didn't show his jealousy, though. He was always nice to Ichimaru, taking care of him and playing with him. Then, one day, two years from Ichimaru's creation, he couldn't take it anymore. So Ume took his little brother out for a 'walk.' "

The brunette had a bad feeling that he knew where the story was going. "And?" Everything was going black. "H-hurry up…"

"Later. You're on the verge of losing consciousness, so…"

* * *

Once again, all was dark.

"Fuck! There are too many!" Yuki cried, knocked over. Toshi's creation had been helpful, but it couldn't hold them off forever.

Ren grunted as she was struck to the ground. "D-damn it…" she murmured, feeling lightheaded. The others were dropping like flies. The situation was bad. Really bad.

All she saw before passing out was a claw reaching down at her.

* * *

When he woke up again, he touched his head. The injury seemed to be gone. Whether or not the speedy recovery could be attributed to something Ichimaru did, Seto didn't know. Slowly sitting up on the fluffy bed, the brunette looked around. He was in… Ichimaru's room? That was unexpected.

"Oh, goody! You're awake!" a voice said gleefully. Seto whipped his head around, only to see a familiar doll.

"Ichimaru," he addressed, eyes narrowing.

The boy smiled brightly. "Yeah, yeah! Sorry I broke you earlier, but I got really, really angry. Play with me!"

Seto shook his head, standing up and backing away. "Like hell I will!"

The doll pouted. "But your friends are all here!"

"Wh-what?" Seto gasped as Ichimaru opened the door.

"Do you want to see them?" he asked, giggling.

Without hesitation, Seto bolted out the door and down the hall, stopping only when he saw them. Chained up and bleeding were Ren, Yuki, Kikyo, Meiko, Toshi, and a few others. "Guys!" Seto cried.

"S-seto?" Ren coughed, looking up at him. Her face matched the rest of her body, bruised and sliced up. "S-sorry. We tried, but there were too many… Couldn't… Couldn't beat them all…"

He was nearing tears. "Why? Why did you come? You should have stayed! Who knows what he'll do now?"

"He?" Ren asked, tilting her head to the side. A trickle of blood came from a split lip.

"Whee! You found them!" Ichimaru chirped. "We should play hide and seek sometime!"

Seto glared at him. "Let them go!"

The doll shook his head. "Don't wanna. 'sides, they'll die either way."

"I said," the brunette growled, "Let them the fuck out!"

Ichimaru laughed again. "Tell you what, we'll play a game! I've hidden an object somewhere in this building. If you can find it, I'll let them all go free. Okay? If you can't find it by the end of the day, I'm gonna start killing them." He brought a hand up to his chin in thought. "I wonder what it would look like if I put the silver-haired head on the shoulders of that blonde kid." Both Ren and Yuki had panicked looks on their faces at those words.

"Leave them alone! I'll find it, just tell me what to look for!" Seto said desperately.

"Mm, nope! I'll give you a hint, though," Ichimaru mused. "It's very important to you."

Seto decided not to argue with the doll. Nodding in affirmation, he turned around and set out to find the object.

* * *

**A/N**

**Klei: Yeah… It's kinda short. I'm sorry. X3**

**Crow: This is ridiculous. What's the object? Why is Ichimaru so freaking psychopathic? And why aren't I getting any?**

**Seto: Wait, what was that last one?**

**Klei: Anyway, be sure to refresh my memory with some questions about the plot in your reviews, if that's alright. I don't want this story to end up with any loose ends, especially since the end is but a few chapters away.**

**Crow: Title drop fail.**

**Klei: You know, I'm the author of this fanfic. I could kill you.**

**Crow: But you won't, because the readers would murder you in your sleep.**

**Klei: They don't know where I live. :3 Maybe you'll live, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll all die and Ichimaru will win. I'm open to writing sad endings. You won't know until the story's over. Bwahahahahaha!**

** Seto: …She's just as crazy as Ichimaru. If not more so. **


End file.
